Emotional & Social Literacy Glossary
All the key words from this curriculum, explained in plain language. This glossary includes both the kid-facing terms used inside the lessons and the more formal toolbox phrases that support the systems frame. Terms are listed alphabetically. The Introduced column shows the week each term first appears.
Use the table for quick lookups. Use the scaffold section at the end when you want a simpler student-facing version or a facilitator caution about how a term can be misused.
| Term | Definition | Introduced |
|---|---|---|
| 5 Whys | A diagnostic tool, sometimes taught as a Why Ladder: ask "why?" again and again to get past the surface complaint and find the deeper reason a repeat problem keeps happening. | Week 15 |
| Alignment problem | The toolbox phrase for group pull: when the group wants one thing and you want another. The skill is noticing the mismatch and choosing on purpose. | Week 12 |
| All-or-nothing thinking | A cognitive distortion that sees things as totally good or totally bad with no middle ground — often using "always" or "never." | Week 5 |
| Amygdala | A small brain structure involved in fast threat-detection. Kid version: part of the brain's fast alarm system, often described as panic brain. | Week 3 |
| Amygdala hijack | When panic brain takes over and the thinking brain goes partly offline. The toolbox phrase is a fast state-machine change into reactive survival mode. | Week 3 |
| Asymmetric information | When two people in a situation know different things — and the friction between them is often caused by that gap, not by either being wrong. | Week 14 |
| Bandwidth | The toolbox phrase for how easy it is to communicate through a relationship. Kid version: some people are easier to talk with and easier to count on than others. | Week 11 |
| Baseline | What's normal for you (or for a situation) when nothing special is happening. The starting measurement that lets you tell whether something has changed. | Week 1 |
| Body Signal Notebook | Kid-friendly name for the Telemetry Log. A notebook where you track body clues, feelings, patterns, and what helped. | Week 1 |
| Boundary | A clear, explicit rule for how you want to be treated in a relationship. Kid version: a clear boundary rule. The engineering frame is an interface specification. | Week 10 |
| Brain battery | Kid-friendly language for processing capacity. When the brain battery is low, patience, focus, and flexibility drop too. | Week 2 |
| Box breathing | A regulation technique using a 4-4-4-4 pattern (inhale, hold, exhale, hold) to deliberately downshift the nervous system. | Optional 1 |
| Bridge | A node in a social network that connects two otherwise-separate groups. When a bridge leaves, the two groups often drift apart. | Optional 2 |
| Catastrophic thinking | A cognitive distortion that takes a small worry and amplifies it through a feedback loop into the worst possible outcome. | Week 7 |
| Catastrophizing | Treating a small problem as if it were a disaster. Kid versions: Disaster Brain or a worry snowball starting to grow. | Week 5 |
| Check | The part of a When/Then Plan that answers: "How will I know it helped?" It should be specific and observable. | Week 16 |
| Check Before You Tell | Kid-friendly name for the Week 13 information filter: Do I know it is true? Is it kind? Does it need to be shared? | Week 13 |
| Clear boundary rule | Kid-friendly way to talk about a boundary: what I want, what I will do, and what I will do next if it keeps happening. | Week 10 |
| Cognitive distortion | A predictable bug in the thinking software — a pattern where the brain produces an inaccurate story about a situation, like catastrophizing or mind-reading. | Week 5 |
| Data collection | Systematically tracking what happens during an experiment, including failures — so you have honest information to learn from. | Week 17 |
| Debugging | The practice of finding and fixing errors in the thinking software — catching a cognitive distortion and replacing it with a more accurate story. | Week 5 |
| Default response | The toolbox phrase for the Then I will part of a plan: the action you already chose before the hard moment happens. | Week 16 |
| Degraded mode | The toolbox phrase for low-battery mode: when processing capacity is low and the system runs worse. Not a character flaw. | Week 2 |
| Deployment | The toolbox phrase for Try-It Week: taking your plan into real life and seeing what actually happens. | Week 17 |
| Detective Check | Kid-friendly name for the Input/Output Audit. It helps students separate what happened from the story their brain added. | Week 8 |
| Deposit | An interaction that builds trust in a relationship — keeping a promise, listening well, showing up reliably, telling the truth. | Week 9 |
| Early warning sign | A signal that shows up before a full hijack — a tight jaw, a short breath, a familiar irritation. Catching it early gives you time. | Week 4 |
| Escalation chain | The sequence of small signals leading up to a hijack — usually starting hours earlier with a body state, a mood, or an unmet need. | Week 4 |
| Feedback loop | A system where the output becomes the next input, amplifying itself. Kid version: a worry snowball that keeps rolling and growing. | Week 7 |
| Fight/flight/freeze | The three common automatic responses the brain runs when in reactive mode — pushing back, leaving, or shutting down. | Week 3 |
| Follow-through | The third part of a well-formed boundary — what you'll actually do if the request isn't honored. Without follow-through, a boundary is just a wish. | Week 10 |
| Friction point | The toolbox phrase for a repeat problem: a specific, recurring issue that keeps happening. | Week 15 |
| Group pull | Kid-friendly name for an alignment problem: the feeling that the group is pulling you toward a choice. | Week 12 |
| Group goal | What a group is trying to do or be — sometimes spoken, often unspoken. When it diverges from your own goal, you're in an alignment problem. | Week 12 |
| Hardware | The body — the physical system the brain runs on. Sleep, hunger, sensory load, and energy are all hardware-state factors. | Week 1 |
| Hidden constraint | A rule or condition affecting someone's behavior that you do not know about. Kid versions: hidden reason or hidden rule. | Week 14 |
| Hidden reason | Kid-friendly phrase for a hidden constraint, pressure, or missing piece of information that may explain someone's behavior. | Week 14 |
| Hub | A node in a social network connected to many other nodes — usually the person in a group who initiates plans and connects people. | Optional 2 |
| In-group / out-group | The fast, often automatic process by which humans sort others into "people I trust and identify with" vs. "everyone else." Useful sometimes, harmful when unexamined. | Optional 2 |
| Information cascade | The way information (true or false) spreads through a social network. The shape of the network determines how fast and how far. | Optional 2 |
| Input | What actually happened — the observable facts a camera would record. The raw data underneath any emotional reaction. | Week 6 |
| Input/Output Audit | The formal name for Detective Check: identify the trigger, log the telemetry, separate inputs from outputs, name any thought bugs, and choose a next safe move. | Week 8 |
| Interface | The place where two systems meet and affect each other. In people terms, it is how we talk, respond, and set expectations. | Week 10 |
| Interface specification | The engineering frame for a clear boundary rule: an explicit description of what is okay, what is not okay, and what will happen next. | Week 10 |
| Intervention window | The time between an early warning sign and a full hijack — the period when small actions can prevent a much bigger reaction. | Week 4 |
| Iterated game | A situation where you will see the same people again and again. Kid version: you will see this person again, so today's move affects tomorrow too. | Week 14 |
| Load | The amount of work your system is doing at any given moment — sensory input, cognitive demand, emotional weight. High load drops capacity. | Week 2 |
| Low-battery mode | Kid-friendly phrase for degraded mode. It means your brain battery is low and small problems may feel bigger. | Week 2 |
| Loop-breaker | A technique that interrupts a runaway feedback loop — a long exhale, cold water, movement, naming the loop out loud, or sensory grounding. | Week 7 |
| Micro-agreement | A small, repeated promise (like "I'll text you back" or "I'll be on time") that builds enormous trust when kept consistently — or drains it when broken. | Week 9 |
| Mind-reading | A cognitive distortion where you assume you know what other people are thinking — usually that they're thinking something bad about you. | Week 5 |
| Mutual support | When members of a group reliably help each other. Kid version: being fair, honest, and helpful over time. | Week 14 |
| Narrative | The story the brain tells about an event. The brain produces narratives automatically — fast enough that it feels like seeing, but it's actually interpretation. | Week 6 |
| Network node | A single person in a social network. Each node has connections (edges) to other nodes — and a position in the network's overall shape. | Week 11 |
| Noise | Variation, interpretation, or amplification on top of the actual signal. Most strong reactions contain more noise than signal — and the noise is debuggable. | Week 8 |
| Output | What your brain made of an event — the interpretation, the story, the meaning layer it added on top of the raw input. | Week 6 |
| Overload | What happens when a system receives more input than it can process. Boundaries protect against overload. | Week 10 |
| Panic brain | Kid-friendly phrase for the fast alarm system that can take over during a hijack. It is not bad; it is just not the best part for careful choices. | Week 3 |
| Personalization | A cognitive distortion where you assume things are about you when they often aren't — like reading a parent's bad mood as evidence that you did something wrong. | Week 5 |
| Pre-mortem | The toolbox phrase for asking What could go wrong? before you try a plan. It helps you patch weak spots early. | Week 16 |
| Prefrontal cortex | The "thinking brain" — the slower, careful, planning part. Goes partially offline during a hijack and comes back online as the system regulates. | Week 3 |
| Processing capacity | How much your brain can handle at any given moment. Kid version: your brain battery. It changes with sleep, food, sensory load, and stress. | Week 2 |
| Progressive muscle relaxation | A regulation technique where you deliberately tense and release muscle groups to send the system a strong "letting go" signal. | Optional 1 |
| Protocol | The formal term for a When/Then Plan: a pre-decided plan for a specific recurring situation. | Week 16 |
| Rational response protocol | The deliberate response chosen at the end of an Input/Output Audit. Kid version: your next safe move. | Week 8 |
| Reactive mode | The formal term for panic-brain mode: fast, defensive, and narrow, built for survival rather than nuance. | Week 3 |
| Regulated mode | The brain's normal operating state, run by the prefrontal cortex. Slower, careful, capable of planning and considering consequences. | Week 3 |
| Regulation firmware | The body's built-in systems for downshifting from reactive states. Techniques like box breathing and PMR are ways to deliberately activate this firmware. | Optional 1 |
| Reliability | Doing what you said you'd do, predictably, over time. The single highest-leverage way to build trust in any relationship. | Week 11 |
| Ripple effect | When information or behavior spreads through a network, affecting people you didn't directly interact with. Every signal you send creates ripples. | Week 13 |
| Root cause | The underlying reason a problem keeps happening. Kid versions: the real reason or what is underneath the repeat problem. | Week 15 |
| Signal | A piece of data from the body or the world — distinct from the story the brain wraps around it. The goal is reading the signal, not just the story. | Week 1 |
| Signal corruption | What happens when information changes as it passes through a social network. Kid version: stories change when they travel. | Week 13 |
| Social capital | The accumulated trust, goodwill, and reputation in a relationship. Built up through deposits, drained by withdrawals. | Week 9 |
| Social map | A sketch of how people or groups connect. It is for understanding patterns, not ranking popularity. | Optional 2 |
| Somatic grounding | A regulation technique (like 5-4-3-2-1) that pulls attention into present sensory input, competing with the spiral for processing power. | Optional 1 |
| State machine | A system that operates in distinct modes (states) and switches between them based on triggers. The brain runs as a state machine: regulated vs. reactive. | Week 3 |
| Story generator | The part of the brain that automatically wraps narratives around sensory and emotional data. Kid version: story maker. Useful for prediction, but it often guesses fast. | Week 6 |
| System mismatch | The engineering frame for conflict — two systems with different goals, information, or constraints colliding. A diagnostic puzzle, not a moral failure. | Week 14 |
| Telemetry | High-priority data packets from the body and emotions. Kid versions: body clues or dashboard lights. They are signals you can read, not commands you must obey. | Week 1 |
| Telemetry Log | The running journal of this curriculum. Many students will call it their Body Signal Notebook. It captures baseline, hardware states, thought bugs, trust notes, plans, and more. | Week 4 |
| Thought bug | Kid-friendly shorthand for a cognitive distortion. It helps you check a thought; it should not be used to dismiss a real problem. | Week 5 |
| Transmission | The act of passing information to someone else. Each transmission is a choice — and you're responsible for the quality of what you send through the network. | Week 13 |
| Trigger | The specific event or signal that activates a plan. Kid version: the When part of a When/Then Plan. | Week 16 |
| Trust jar | Kid-friendly phrase for the trust ledger. It helps students picture trust filling, draining, and being repaired over time. | Week 9 |
| Trust ledger | The running balance of trust in a relationship. Kid version: a trust jar that gets filled by deposits and drained by withdrawals. | Week 9 |
| Try-It Week | Kid-friendly phrase for deployment: the week you try your plan in real life and see what happens. | Week 17 |
| Verification | The act of checking information before passing it on. Kid version: Check Before You Tell. | Week 13 |
| When/Then Plan | Kid-friendly name for a protocol: when this happens, then I will do this, and I will know it helped if this changes. | Week 16 |
| Withdrawal | An interaction that drains trust from a relationship — a broken promise, a dismissive comment, a betrayal, even a small inconsistency. | Week 9 |
| Worry snowball | Kid-friendly phrase for catastrophic thinking or a feedback loop that keeps getting bigger. | Week 7 |
Additional Core Terms
These shorter everyday terms sit beside the more technical vocabulary above. They are useful when learners, caregivers, or facilitators want the plainest possible wording.
| Term | Definition | Introduced |
|---|---|---|
| Accessibility | Making a tool, space, lesson, or project easier for different people to use and understand. | Throughout |
| AI-edited | Changed with the help of artificial intelligence, such as a filtered photo, cleaned-up voice clip, or rewritten sentence. | Week 13 |
| AI-generated | Made partly or fully by artificial intelligence instead of only by a person. | Week 13 |
| Apology | A truthful way to name harm, take responsibility, and show what you will do differently next time. | Week 9 |
| Assumption | Something your brain guesses without full proof. | Week 6 |
| Attribution | Giving credit for facts, images, quotes, ideas, data, or AI help you used. | Week 18 |
| Body clue | A sign from your body, like tight shoulders, fast heartbeat, tears, or wanting space. | Week 1 |
| Calm strategy | A safe action that gives your brain and body more space before you choose what to do next. | Week 3 |
| Conflict | A problem, disagreement, or mismatch between people, needs, goals, or expectations. | Week 10 |
| Consequence | What happens after a choice or action. | Week 8 |
| Consent | A clear yes that is given freely and can be changed. Silence or pressure is not consent. | Week 10 |
| Coping strategy | A tool a person uses to get through a hard moment. Some coping strategies are safer and more helpful than others. | Week 3 |
| Deepfake | A video, image, or voice clip that has been changed to look or sound real when it is not. | Week 13 |
| Digital communication | Messages, comments, posts, chats, photos, videos, or voice notes shared through phones, games, apps, or computers. | Week 13 |
| Emotion | A strong feeling state such as anger, joy, fear, sadness, embarrassment, or excitement. | Week 1 |
| Empathy | Trying to understand what someone else may be feeling or needing. | Week 9 |
| Feeling | The word you use to describe part of your emotional experience, such as calm, worried, lonely, or proud. | Week 1 |
| Inclusion | Making sure people can join, belong, and participate without being pushed out. | Week 12 |
| Need | Something important for safety, health, fairness, rest, support, or belonging. | Week 2 |
| Neurodivergent | A word some people use when their brain works in ways that are different from what a group expects, such as autism, ADHD, dyslexia, or other differences. | Throughout |
| Peer pressure | Pressure from other kids or a group to think, act, join, or stay quiet in a certain way. | Week 12 |
| Perspective | One way of seeing or understanding a situation. Different people can have different perspectives. | Week 8 |
| Reflection | Looking back at what happened, what you noticed, and what you learned. | Week 4 |
| Repair | Actions that help fix harm, rebuild trust, or make a safer next step after a mistake. | Week 9 |
| Respect | Treating people with care, dignity, and honesty, even during disagreement. | Week 10 |
| Responsibility | Owning your part in a situation and choosing what you can do next. | Week 15 |
| Revision | Improving your words, plan, or project after feedback, new evidence, or reflection. | Week 18 |
| Self-awareness | Noticing your own feelings, body clues, thoughts, strengths, and needs. | Week 1 |
| Self-management | Using tools, plans, and support to handle feelings and choices safely. | Week 3 |
| Sensory overwhelm | A feeling that your brain or body is getting too much noise, light, touch, motion, or other input at once. | Week 2 |
| Social pressure | Pressure from a group, trend, audience, or situation to act a certain way. | Week 12 |
| Trigger | The event, clue, or moment that sets off a feeling, thought pattern, or plan. | Week 16 |
| Trust | The feeling that someone is honest, dependable, and safe to be around. | Week 9 |
| Want | Something you would like, even if it is not a basic need. | Week 2 |
Some images, voices, videos, messages, comments, or characters may be AI-generated or AI-edited. That does not automatically make them bad or fake, but it does mean we should check carefully before trusting, sharing, reacting, or comparing ourselves to them.
Useful questions:
- Who made this?
- Could it be edited or AI-generated?
- Is it trying to make me feel something strongly?
- Is another trusted source or person saying the same thing?
- What should I do before I react or share?
Simple Versions and Facilitator Notes
Alignment problem
Simple version: The group is pulling one way and I want something else.
Facilitator note: Belonging is a real need. The goal is not to shame group influence. The goal is to help learners notice when alignment becomes unsafe or costly.
Amygdala
Simple version: A fast alarm part of the brain, sometimes called panic brain.
Facilitator note: Useful for teaching, but do not present it as if one tiny brain part literally runs the whole person by itself.
Boundary
Simple version: A clear boundary rule about what I will do or allow.
Facilitator note: A boundary is not control. It does not erase kindness, accountability, or safe adult rules.
Catastrophizing
Simple version: My brain takes a small problem and fast-forwards it into a disaster.
Facilitator note: Treat it as a pattern, not a personality trait. Persistent spirals or self-harm thoughts need adult support beyond the lesson.
Cognitive distortion
Simple version: A thought pattern that bends the story away from the facts.
Facilitator note: The point is evidence-checking, not arguing students out of every hard feeling.
Feedback loop
Simple version: Something feeds itself and keeps getting bigger.
Facilitator note: Use everyday examples first. The loop model helps students spot interrupt points; it is not a verdict about who they are.
Interface
Simple version: The part where two systems meet.
Facilitator note: In relationships, the interface is how people speak, respond, and set expectations. It should stay concrete.
Iterated game
Simple version: A situation where you will see the same people again and again.
Facilitator note: This model should support wiser cooperation, not manipulation or secret tests.
Protocol
Simple version: A When/Then Plan I decide ahead of time for what I will do.
Facilitator note: Keep protocols learner-controlled, specific, safe, and easy to stop.
Signal
Simple version: A clue or piece of data.
Facilitator note: Signals can come from the body, the environment, or a relationship. The job is to notice them before jumping to interpretation.
Social capital
Simple version: The trust and goodwill that build up over time in a relationship or group.
Facilitator note: Keep this concrete. Students do not need business language; they need examples of reliability, honesty, repair, and care.
Social map
Simple version: A picture of how people connect.
Facilitator note: A social map is not a popularity ranking. Use fictional, anonymized, or private examples.
Telemetry
Simple version: Body clues or dashboard lights your system is sending.
Facilitator note: Telemetry is data, not a command. The word helps students move from shame to observation.
Trust ledger
Simple version: The trust jar or trust record that shows what builds trust and what drains it.
Facilitator note: The ledger is not scorekeeping. Repair, generosity, boundaries, and context matter.
Thought bug
Simple version: A shortcut or glitch in the story my brain is telling.
Facilitator note: Do not use "thought bug" to dismiss a real problem. The tool checks the interpretation, not the student's worth.