AST Glossary
This glossary centralizes AST variables, equation symbols, and core terms in one place. It is designed as a quick reference when reading the Overview, Core Concepts, Key Equations, Falsifiability, and AST Tracker pages.
How to use this page: Start with the variables table for equation terms, then use the concept glossary for definitions. When needed, return to Core Concepts and Key Equations for deeper context.
Core Variables and Symbols
Symbols shown below match AST equations. Prime notation (') indicates adjusted, weighted, or transformed values.
| Variable | Full Name | Definition & Function |
|---|---|---|
AE |
Agency Expectancy | The biological belief that an individual's actions matter. It is not a conscious mindset, rather, it is a feeling determined by repeated experiences that wires the nervous system for specific actions. The three predominant forms are Collective AE, Commodified AE, and Predatory AE. |
MAT |
Material Strain Index | Measures the objective material strain along with the subjective experience of that strain. It is calculated using two sub-variables: MAT-O (Objective), which counts actual strain regarding housing, food, and other needs, and MAT-S (Subjective), which is a self-rating of worry. |
MSI |
Mood Stability Index | Measures the depth and consistency of neural "mood grooves". Functioning as the inverse of emotional volatility, it measures how consistently a person experiences their emotional baseline over time. |
SED |
Socialization Exposure Dose | Measures raw environmental input by adjusting the time spent in a practice for the actual quality of the environment. It is calculated by factoring in the clarity of rules, the consistency of the experience, and the level of agency felt. |
SED' |
Effective Socialization Dose | The filtered dose of socialization that physically rewires neurology. It is determined by taking the raw SED and filtering it through context variables (HMC, CCC, HV), and is entirely gated by the individual's MAT threshold. |
BCI |
Behavior Control Index | Measures the behavioral output of an individual, specifically representing the gap between intention and action. It calculates how effectively someone can translate their set goals into actual behavior. |
CCC |
Class Character of Context | Measures the structural alignment of a social environment. It determines whether a context actively enables collective agency or actively rewards predatory and commodified forms of agency. |
HMC |
Hegemonic Mood Climate | An emergent context variable that measures the collective sense of rule clarity and predictability in a specific social context. It is the physical aggregation of crystallized baseline personalities within that given environment. |
HV |
Hegemonic Volatility | Measures the sheer instability and unpredictability of a context over time. It mathematically captures the variance in mood stability (MSI) among all members of a specific social environment. |
Key Concepts and Mechanisms
| Term | Definition |
|---|---|
| Mood Grooves | Durable affective pathways formed through repeated emotional experience under stable structural conditions. |
| Affective Conditioning | The process by which environment repeatedly shapes neural-emotional states, reinforcing some responses while pruning others. |
| Recursive Social Learning | The feedback loop where context shapes people, people reproduce context, and the updated context shapes the next cycle. |
| Neuroplasticity Window | Periods where learning systems are highly adaptable and thus especially sensitive to social environment quality. |
| Pruning | The adaptive loss of unused or unsupported pathways as other pathways are repeatedly reinforced. |
| Determinism (AST frame) | The claim that behavior emerges from structured conditioning histories, not isolated acts of unconstrained will. |
| Microclimates | Localized social environments intentionally designed to increase stability, trust, cooperation, and collective agency. |
Three Zones (State-Level Orientation)
| Zone | State Pattern | Likely Learning Outcome |
|---|---|---|
| Green Zone | Safety, regulated affect, relational trust, and cognitive openness. | Higher integration, flexible learning, cooperation, and long-horizon planning. |
| Yellow Zone | Intermittent stress with unstable but recoverable regulation. | Mixed learning quality, variable consistency, and fragile agency maintenance. |
| Red Zone | Chronic threat, coercive volatility, hypervigilance, or shutdown adaptation. | Narrowed learning bandwidth, survival-prioritized behavior, and reduced coherence. |
Interpretation Notes
- Glossary definitions are standardized short forms for readability across AST pages.
- When page-level wording differs slightly, this glossary should be treated as a quick-reference map, not a replacement for full technical exposition.
- Coefficient values and threshold cutoffs remain provisional unless explicitly validated in published empirical studies.
Next Step
Use this glossary as your anchor page, then move into deeper AST modules depending on what you are studying.