Family notes 2.

Absolute values:

Extreme, definitive values that are inflexible.

Abstract symbols:

Ideas rather than objects, unseen.

Acceleration effect:

Quickening of life’s pace so that each unit of time saved is more valuable than the last unit.

Accommodation:

An agreement reached by accepting the point of view of another person.

Actively acquired information:

Information the individual actively looks for, such as fashion coverage in magazines, or news on television or the Internet.

Actuating:

Putting plans into effect, action, or motion.

Adaptability (adaptive):

The ability to cope with change, to make the necessary adjustments.

Adjusting:

Checking a plan or an activity and making appropriate changes.

Advocate or expert channels:

Experts in a field or people with a cause who are likely to contact receivers through letters, speeches, television, or the Internet. They have a message.

Affective domain:

Value meanings derived from feelings.

Africa rising:

Term used to describe Africa’s growing middle class, rapidly spreading technologies, and rising incomes.

Annual Percentage Rate (APR):

Rate of interest paid over the life of credit or a loan.

Anticipation:

Expectations and anxieties surrounding decisions.

Artifacts:

Type, placement, or rearrangement of objects around a person.

Assessment:

The gathering of information about results.

Assets:

What a person owns, for example a house, car, or investments.

Attitudes:

Concepts that may express values, serve as a means of evaluation, or demonstrate feelings in regard to some idea, person, object, event, situation, or relationship.

Autonomic:

Family decision-making style in which an equal number of decisions are made by each spouse.

Behavior:

What people actually do, how they act.

Best practices:

Methods and techniques to ensure quality.

Biodegradability:

The capability of a material to decompose over time as a result of biological activity. More specifically, it can be a substance’s ability to be broken down into microorganisms.

Biological diversity or Biodiversity:

The variety and variability among living organisms and the ecological complexities in which they occur.

Blended families:

Families that include children from previous relationships or marriages, also called stepfamilies, or reconstituted or combined families.

Boomeranging:

Adult children returning to live in their parents’ homes.

Boundaries:

Limits or borders between systems.

Boundary ambiguity:

Uncertainty about where the lines are, how daily life or work life should be arranged, and who should be invited to family and holiday events or meetings.

Boundary management:

The establishment and maintenance of boundaries.

Bounded rationality:

Individuals seek the maximum utility (satisfaction) from the decisions they make.

Brainstorming:

Group communication technique in which members suggest many ideas no matter how seemingly ridiculous or strange. Afterward, the group examines each idea-separately to see whether it has merit.

Brownout:

In brownout, fatigue and irritability appear; eating and sleeping patterns may be disturbed; cynicism and indecision may set in; and all this may lead to burnout.

Budget:

A spending plan or guide.

Burnout:

Emotional or physical exhaustion brought on by unrelieved stress.

Carbon footprint:

The impact of consumption and transportation on carbon emissions such as fuel used to transport goods or used in personal travel.

Carbon monoxide:

An odorless, colorless gas that can cause death from accidental poisoning.

Change:

To cause to be different, to alter, or to transform.

Channel:

The medium or route through which a message travels from sender to receiver.

Checking:

Determining whether actions are in compliance with standards and sequencing.

Choice:

The act of selecting among alternatives.

Chronic fatigue syndrome:

An affliction or disease exhibiting a variety of symptoms, including extreme long-lasting exhaustion.

Circadian rhythms:

Daily rhythmic activity cycles, based on 24-hour intervals, that humans experience.

Clarification:

The process of making clear, making easier to understand, or elaborating.

Climate Change:

Includes global warming and weather pattern changes, water availability.

Cocooning:

Remaining at home as a place of coziness, control, peace, insulation, and protection.

Cognition:

The mental process or faculty by which knowledge is acquired.

Cognitive Behavioral Therapy:

Talk therapy which helps you change patterns of behavior and thinking.

Cognitive domain:

Value meanings derived from thinking about events, situations, people, and things.

Cognitive psychology:

Scientific study of the mind (information processing) that explains human intelligence and how people think.

Comfort zone:

A combination of habit and everyday expectations mixed with an appropriate amount of adventure and novelty, what feels comfortable to the individual.

Commitment:

The degree to which an individual identifies with and is involved in a particular activity or organization.

Communication:

The process of transmitting a message from a sender to a receiver.

Communication multitasking:

Behavior of individuals and media companies when they engage in a variety of communication channels or forms at the same time, can lead to overload.

Comparative advantage:

A theory that individuals, families, or companies do best when they focus on activities in which they can add the most value and outsource or delegate other activities.

Compromise:

Process of resolving conflicts in which each person makes concessions, giving in a little to gain a valued settlement or outcome.

Conflict:

A state of disagreement or disharmony.

Conflict resolution:

Negotiations to remedy the conflict.

Consensual decision making:

Process of reaching a mutual agreement equally acceptable to all individuals involved.

Conservation:

The act or process of preserving and protecting natural environments from loss or depletion.

Conservation of Resources Theory:

Thinking about and doing things to save and sustain resources.

Constructive conflict:

A form of conflict or disagreement that focuses on the issue or the problem rather than on the other person’s deficits.

Consume:

To destroy, use, or expend.

Consumer Expenditure Survey:

A U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics data collection of consumer patterns.

Consumer Price Index (CPI):

A measure of price changes, which are collected by and reported by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. The CPI is the main measure of inflation in the United States.

Contingency plans:

Backup or secondary plans to be used in case the first plan does not work out.

Controlling:

Acting to check one’s course of action.

Creative thinking:

A novel approach to decisions, problems, and solutions.

Creativity goals:

Productive of new things or new original or atypical ideas, striving, innovation.

Credit:

Time allowed for repayment of money or goods that are borrowed; also refers to the amount of money borrowed.

Credit bureau:

A reporting agency that collects, stores, and sells financial information.

Crises:

Events that require changes in normal patterns of behavior.

Critical listening:

Act of evaluating or challenging what is heard.

Cultural values:

Generally held conceptualizations of what is right or wrong in a culture or what is preferred.

Culture:

The sum of all socially transmitted behavior patterns, beliefs, arts, expectations, institutions, and all other products of human work and thought characteristic of a group, community, or population.

Data analytics:

Measurement of qualitative and quantitative data used to make decisions about possible outcomes.

Debit cards:

(or cash cards) Provide computerized banking transactions straight from accounts.

Decibel (dB):

A measure of the loudness of sound.

Decidophobia:

The fear of making decisions.

Deciduous trees:

Trees that lose their leaves in winter.

Decision making:

Choosing between two or more alternatives.

Decision-making style:

The characteristic way that a person makes decisions.

Decision plan:

A long, complicated decision process that includes a sequence of intentions.

Decision rules:

Principles that guide decision making.

Decisions:

Conclusions or judgments about some issue or matter.

Decoding:

The process by which the receiver assigns meaning to the symbols sent by the sender, to convert from code into a plain memory.

De facto decision making:

Process whereby decisions are made by a lack of dissent rather than by active assent.

Demands:

Events or goals that require action.

Demographics:

Data used to describe populations or subgroups.

Demography:

The study of the characteristics of human populations that is, their size, growth, distribution, density, movement, and other vital statistics.

Destination:

The receiver or audience in the process of communication.

Destructive conflicts:

Interpersonal conflicts involving direct verbal attacks on another individual.

Detergent:

Surfactant or mixture with cleansing properties.

Diffusion:

Spreading of innovations including new ideas, products, services, and ways of doing things within an enterprise, organization, or society.

Directional plans:

Progress along a linear path to a long-term goal fulfillment.

Disability:

A long-term or a chronic condition medically defined as a physiological, anatomical, mental, or emotional impairment resulting from disease or illness, inherited or congenital defect, or traumas or other insults (including environmental) to mind or body.

Discovery:

The initial observation of a new phenomenon.

Discretionary income:

Income regulated by one’s own discretion or judgment.

Discretionary time:

The free time an individual can use any way she or he wants.

Disposable income:

The amount of take-home pay left after all deductions are withheld for benefits, taxes, contributions, and so on.

Distress:

Harmful stress.

Diversification:

Having a mix of investments across several categories thus spreading risk and the opportunities for growth.

Domi (plural domus):

Latin term for house or home.

Domino effect:

The passage of stress from one source to another.

Dovetailing (multitasking):

Situation occurring when two or more activities take place at the same time.

Downshifting:

Opting for a simpler life usually less pay, less stress, and more time in a more personally satisfying occupation or lifestyle.

Drift time:

Enjoyable, unscheduled time.

Dual-career households:

Households in which spouses or partners have a long-term commitment to a planned series of jobs leading to desired career goals.

Dual-income or dual-earner households:

Households in which spouses or partners have income-producing jobs.

Ecoconsciousness:

Thoughts and actions given to protecting and sustaining the environment.

Ecological footprint:

Impact of the consumption and production of goods and services on the environment. The amount of biologically productive land and sea area required for the support of individuals or specific populations.

Ecology:

The study of how living things relate to their natural environment.

Economic security (insecurity): Having

a stable income or resources to support a level of living.

Economic well-being:

The degree to which individuals or families have economic or financial adequacy.

Ecosystem:

The subsystem of human ecology that emphasizes the relationship between organisms and their environment.

Effort:

Exertion or the use of energy to do something.

Emergency fund:

Savings equal to three to six months’ income.

Empathetic listening:

Listening for feelings.

Empathy:

The ability to recognize and identify another’s feelings by putting oneself in that person’s place.

Employment Assistance Programs (EAPs):

Employer-sponsored programs help workers and their families with emotional, work, financial, and legal difficulties.

Emo-surveillance:

(emo stands for emotional) Refers to our ability to notice and read facial expressions and body language.

Encoding:

The process of putting thought into symbolic form.

Energy audit:

Assessment of a home’s energy efficiency

Entrepreneur:

Person who organizes, operates, and successfully manages a new enterprise.

Entrepreneurship:

Process of creating new ideas, goods, services, procedures, and businesses by bringing together a unique package of resources to exploit, develop, or make use of an opportunity.

Entropy:

A tendency toward disorder or randomness.

Environment:

External conditions influencing the life of an organism or population.

Environmentalism:

Concern for the environment.

Equal Credit Opportunity Act:

Legislation that prohibits discrimination in any aspect of credit transaction against a person because of race, sex, age, color, marital status, or related factors.

Equifinality:

The phenomenon in which different circumstances and opportunities may lead to similar outcomes.

Ethics:

A system of morals, principles, values, or good conduct. Values underlie ethics.

Eustress:

Beneficial stress.

Evaluation:

The process of judging or examining the cost, value, or worth of a plan or decision based on such criteria as standards, demands, or goals.

Expertise:

The ability to perform tasks successfully and dependably.

External change:

A kind of change fostered by society or the outer environment.

External noise:

Noise from the environment.

External search:

The process of looking for new information from sources outside oneself.

External stress:

Situations in which stress is brought on from outside the individual.

Extreme work:

Describes jobs that require 60+ hours per week as well as jobs that require significant travel and a 24/7 call schedule.

Extrinsic motivation:

Outside rewards or motivation.

Extrinsic values:

Values that derive worth or meaning from someone or something else.

Extroverts:

Overall types of character and response in which individuals are less interested in themselves and more interested in others, outgoing, fueled by being around other people.

Fair Credit Reporting Act:

Legislation mandating that individuals who are denied credit, insurance, or employment because of their credit report have the right to obtain a free copy of their report.

Family:

Several definitions exist about families. The U.S. Census Bureau definition is a group of two or more persons (one of whom is a householder) who are related by birth, marriage, or adoption and reside together. A more open definition is two or more people who self-identify as a family and share resources.

Family demography:

Study of the characteristics and numbers of families, noting changes in families and households.

Family ecosystem:

A subsystem of human ecology that emphasizes the interactions between families and environments.

Fatalism:

The feeling or acknowledgment that all events are shaped by fate.

Fatigue:

Not having sufficient energy to carry on and the strong desire to stop, rest, or sleep.

Feedback:

Information that returns to the system.

Fertility rate:

Yearly number of births per 1,000 women of childbearing age.

FICO score:

Numeric value assigned to credit habits such as bill paying on time and credit history.

Fight or flight syndrome:

Alerted condition of the body as it quickly prepares for physical battle or energetic flight to escape the situation.

Financial Counseling:

Changing financial behaviors and outcomes, includes changing habits such as gambling.

Financial Literacy:

Knowledge and understanding of financial concepts, choices, and information.

Financial management:

The science or practice of managing money or other assets.

Financial planners (advisors):

Professionals who help clients plan and manage their financial resources, including investments, based on goals. Advice can be sought on a specific topic or for a total plan.

Financial security:

The ability to meet daily obligations while planning, saving, and investing to achieve future goals.

FIRE Movement (Stands for Financially Independent Retire Early):

Retiring earlier than conventional age by increasing income and savings and decreasing expenses.

Fixed expenses:

Expenses in a budget for which the same amount is allocated each month, such as for rent or car payments.

Flextime:

Variable hours for employees.

Focus groups:

Selected groups of people who are questioned by a discussion leader or moderator about their views on different topics or products.

Fossil fuels:

Remains of dead vegetation, such as coal, oil, and natural gases that can be burned to release energy.

Functional limitation:

Hindrance or negative effect in the performance of household tasks or work activities.

Futuristic Thinking Skills:

Ability to predict future events and trends that affect you.

Gender gap:

The difference in earnings between employed men and women.

Genealogy:

An account of the descent of a person or family from an ancestor or ancestors.

Genome maps:

Blueprints that researchers use to investigate the development of an individual animal or plant from fertilization to maturity.

Gerontology:

The scientific study of the aging process.

Gig economy:

Being part of an economic trend, working at an extra paid job or growing a side business.

Green building:

The relationship of a house and its occupants with the greater environment, includes eco-friendly design and processes, concepts of sustainability.

Glass ceiling:

Situation in which as women move up the career ladder they hit an invisible -barrier that stops them from moving further.

Global warming:

Occurs when carbon dioxide and other gases collect in the air and trap solar heat reflected from the earth.

Goal disengagement:

The letting go of goals or the redefinition of goals or end states.

Goals:

End results that require action; the purpose toward which much behavior is directed.

Goldsmith Model of Social Influence (see also Model of Social Influence):

Systems diagram that begins with invention or innovation and follows steps with a feedback loop after evaluation.

Gresham’s law of planning:

Short-term concerns create priorities and deadlines that take managerial attention away from long-range concerns.

Grit:

A combination of passion and perseverance.

Gross domestic product (GDP):

The total market value of all goods and services produced by a nation during a specified period, usually a year.

Gross income:

All income received that is not legally exempt from taxes.

Habitat:

The place where an organism lives.

Habits:

Repetitive, often unconscious, patterns of behavior.

Habitual decision making:

Process of making choices out of habit without any additional information search.

Handicap:

A disadvantage, interference, or barrier to what one wants to do, can be permanent or temporary.

Happiness:

The degree to which one judges the overall quality of his or her life as favorable.

Hatching:

Local area nesting, finding other places outside of the workplace or the home to spend time in.

Homeostasis:

The tendency to maintain balance.

Household:

All persons who occupy a housing unit such as a house, apartment, or single room.

Householder:

The person (or one of the persons) who owns the home or in whose name it is rented.

Household Pulse Survey:

Published by the U.S. Census Bureau to show the economic impacts of a specific situation such as household or consumer response to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Human capital:

The sum total of human resources; all the capabilities, traits, and other resources that people use to achieve goals.

Human ecology:

The study of how humans interact with their environment.

Human Resources:

The skills, talents, and abilities that people possess.

Hypotheses:

Predictions about future occurrences.

I-messages:

Statements of fact about how an individual feels or thinks.

Immigration:

The process in which people enter and settle in a country where they are not native.

Implementing:

Putting decisions or plans into action.

Income:

The amount of money or its equivalent received during a period of time.

Income tax:

A personal tax levied on individuals or families on the basis of income received; in the United States, there are state and federal income taxes.

Independent activities:

Activities that take place one at a time.

Indirect channels:

Message communication forms such as radio, television, magazines, newspapers, and signs.

Inflation:

Rising prices.

Information anxiety:

The gap between what individuals think they understand and what they actually do understand.

Information overload:

The uncomfortable state when individuals are exposed to too much information in too short a time.

Innovation overload:

Consumer response to the accelerated pace of information, knowledge, and innovations.

Inputs:

Whatever is brought into the system.

Insomnia:

The perception or complaint of inadequate, interrupted, or poor-quality sleep.

Insurance:

A financial arrangement in which people pay premiums to an insurance company that reimburses them in the event of loss or injury.

Intangible resources:

Resources incapable of being touched, unseen, an example is intelligence.

Integrated waste management:

A combination of methods used to reduce environmental pollution.

Integrity:

Honest and consistent in principles, beliefs, and values.

Intellect:

Knowing or understanding; the capacity to create knowledge; the capability for rational or highly developed use of intelligence.

Interdependent activities,

Relationship between activities where one activity must be completed before another can take place.

Interface:

The place or point where independent systems or diverse groups interact.

Interference:

Anything that distorts or interrupts messages.

Internal change:

Type of change that originates within the individual or the family and includes events or decisions that primarily affect family members.

Internal noise:

Noise occurring in the sender’s and receiver’s minds, an example would be doubt.

Internal search:

The process of looking within oneself for information for decisions.

Internal stress:

Type of stress that originates in one’s own mind and body.

Interpersonal conflicts:

Actions by one person that interfere with the actions of another.

Intrapersonal communication:

Inner voice, within the individual.

Intrinsic motivation:

The underlying causes of and the internal need for competence and self-determination. The pleasure or value a person derives from the content of work or activity.

Intrinsic values:

Values classified as ends in themselves, having internal meanings.

Introverts:

Overall types of character or response in which individuals tend to think of themselves first and rely on inner-directed thoughts.

Intuition:

The sense or feeling of knowing what to do without going through the rational process.

Invention:

Process that provides the initial verification that a problem can be solved.

Investment:

Commitment of capital to the achievement of long-term goals or objectives.

Involvement balance:

If a person is heavily involved in one domain (work, school, or family), he or she may be less available, psychologically or physically, for another domain.

Job stress:

The harmful physical and emotional responses that occur when the requirements of the job do not match the capabilities, resources, goals, or needs of the worker.

Karoshi Japanese:

term referring to death by overwork.

Law of least effort:

If there are several ways of achieving the same goal, people will gravitate to the least demanding course of action.

Leaders:

Authorities, experts, facilitators, and guides who participate in community-action programs, families, and as contributors to scientific, social, or economic advances and in so doing improve human lives.

Learning goals:

Emphasize the gaining of comprehension, taking steps to know more.

Leisure:

Freedom from time-consuming activities, tasks, duties, or responsibilities.

Level of living:

The measure of the goods and services affordable by and available to individuals or families.

Leveraging:

Doing more with less, stretching resources.

Liabilities:

Sum total of what a person owes.

Life cycle assessment:

Process of determining the life cycle of household products includes not only material resources in their manufacture, distribution, and disposal but also includes energy use, and the human resources involved.

Life management:

All decisions a person or family makes and the way their values, goals, and resource use affects their decision making, which includes all the goals, events, situations, and decisions that constitute a lifestyle.

Lifestyle:

The characteristic way or pattern in which an individual conducts his or her life.

Lifestyle management (life management):

Encompasses all the decisions an individual or family makes that impacts how they live.

Life stylist:

Someone who creates or re-creates a particular lifestyle such as found in advertisements or in real estate open houses or model homes.

Liquidity:

The speed and ease of retrieving cash or turning another type of investment into cash.

Listening:

Hearing what is said and observing the actions communicated.

Long-term-care insurance:

Policies that provide benefits for a range of services not covered by regular health insurance or Medicare, mostly obtained to help in the elder years.

Low involvement:

Information that does not necessitate much thinking about or attention.

Macroenvironment:

The environment that surrounds and encompasses the microenvironment.

Management:

The process of using resources to achieve goals. It involves thinking, action, and results.

Management process:

The procedures involved in management thinking, action, and results.

Management style:

A characteristic way of making decisions and acting.

Management tools:

Measuring devices, techniques, or instruments that are used to arrive at decisions and plans of action.

Managerial judgment:

The ability to accept and work with change for the betterment of self and humankind.

Material resources:

Tangible resources; natural phenomena, such as fertile soil, petroleum, and rivers, and human-made items, such as buildings, money, and computers.

Maximizers:

Individuals who want to be certain they have made the right choices and therefore are less likely to fully commit to decisions.

Market share:

How much of the market someone or some company/group has (example, Amazon).

Median age:

The measure of central tendency. In population statistics, the median is the value separating the higher half from the lower half.

Medicare:

The United States basic health insurance for people 65 or older.

Message:

The total communication that is sent, listened to, and received.

Message construction:

Structure of a message that determines where information should be placed in a message to have maximum impact, which includes how often information should be repeated in a message.

Message content:

What a message says; strategies or information that may be used to communicate an idea or policy to receivers.

Metro area:

More than 50,000 people.

Microenvironment:

The environment that closely surrounds individuals and families.

Mindfulness:

A way of thinking or philosophical stance using new techniques in time and stress management.

Mobility:

Technical term for changing residences.

Model of Social Influence:

(also called Goldsmith Model of Social Influence) A process beginning with invention or innovation leading to evaluation and a feedback loop with buzz or talk.

Monochronic:

Preference to focus on one activity at a time.

Morphogenic systems:

Systems adaptive to change and relatively open.

Morphostatic systems:

Systems resistant to change, stable, and relatively closed.

Mortality:

The technical term for death.

Motivation:

Movement toward goals or other desired outcomes.

Multiculturalism:

The mix of ethnic and cultural groups in which each is recognized and respected.

Multifinality:

The phenomenon in which the same initial circumstances or conditions may lead to different conclusions or outcomes.

Municipal landfills:

Area or site for the disposal of waste.

Multitasking:

Doing several activities at once, same as dovetailing.

Municipal waste:

Trash and garbage collected in a community or city.

Murphy’s Law:

If something can go wrong, it will.

Natural capital:

A good (something worthy) humans have to protect, such as the environment.

Need recognition:

Realization of how much an individual needs a certain product, service, or condition.

Needs:

Things that are required or necessary.

Negative feedback:

Information put into the system that indicates that the system is deviating from its normal course and that corrective measures may be necessary if the desired steady state is to be maintained.

Network Theory:

Indicates with larger shared networks future interactions and time perceptions will change especially for businesses and organizations.

Net worth:

Amount determined by subtracting liabilities from assets.

Neuroscience:

Scientific study of the nervous system including brain.

Noise:

Any interference in the communication process that prevents the message from being heard correctly; unwanted sound.

Noise reduction:

Process of lessening or removing noise from a signal or source.

Nondiscretionary time:

The time that an individual cannot control totally.

Noise reduction:

The process of removing or lessening noise or unwanted sounds.

Nonnormative stressor events:

Unanticipated experiences that place a person or a family in a state of instability and require creative effort to remedy.

Nonverbal symbols:

Anything other than words that is used in communication.

Normative stressor events:

Anticipated, predictable developmental changes that occur at certain life intervals.

Norms:

Rules that specify, delineate, encourage, and prohibit certain behaviors in certain situations.

NREM (non-rapid eye movement)-sleep:

Kind of sleep that occurs when the sleeper is in an inactive, deep slumber.

On-boarding:

Activities and introductions to make new employees or group members feel welcome and involved.

Opportunity cost:

The highest-valued alternative that must be sacrificed to satisfy a want or attain something.

Opportunity recognition:

Realization by an individual that she or he may have limited or no access to a product, service, or condition.

Optimism:

A tendency or a disposition to expect the best outcome or to think hopefully about a situation.

Optimization:

Process of obtaining the best result.

Orientation:

The location or situation of a house relative to points on a compass.

Ostrich effect:

Avoiding painful or disagreeable news or information. For example, not wanting to know what is in a letter or some other form of communication.

Outputs:

End results or products, leftovers, and waste.

Outsourcing:

Paying someone else to do one’s work.

Overlapping activities:

Situation in which one gives intermittent attention to two or more activities until they are completed.

Pace:

Speed at which a person speaks or communicates, also can refer to speed of performance in other activities.

Paradigm shift:

The process in which an individual or a team tackles a problem by jumping ahead to radically innovative solutions rather than taking a gradual step-by-step approach.

Pareto’s principle:

The principle stating that 20 percent of the time expended usually produces 80 percent of the results, whereas 80 percent of the time expended produces only 20 percent of the results.

Parkinson’s law:

The idea that a job expands to fill the time available to accomplish the task.

Passively acquired information:

Information that one hears or sees but does not necessarily seek, such as billboard advertisements or broadcasted announcements in a store.

Perception:

The process whereby sensory stimulation is translated into organized experience.

Perfectionism:

Personality trait or inclination to strive for no errors or mistakes.

Performance goals:

Emphasize outcomes or actions, usually external things that can be seen or measured such as sporting events performance.

Perquisites (perks):

Employer given extras like parking spaces, awards, services, food, and travel.

Persistence:

A person’s staying power; the personality trait of not giving up when faced with adversity.

Personality:

The range of consistent characteristics or traits influencing behavior and cognition.

Peter Principle:

Idea or concept that people are promoted beyond their level of competence.

Physical environmental resources:

Natural surroundings.

Plan:

A detailed schema, program, strategy, or method worked out beforehand for the accomplishment of a desired end result.

Planning:

A series of decisions leading to action or to need or goal fulfillment.

Pollution:

Undesirable changes in physical, chemical, or biological characteristics of air, land, or water that can harm the health, activities, or survival of living organisms.

Polychronic:

Liking to do several things at once.

Positive ecology:

Practice of thinking and acting in such a way as to reduce waste and pollution.

Positive feedback:

Information put into the system that anticipates and promotes change.

Postpurchase dissonance:

Situation in which after a purchasing decision, the buyer is likely to seek some reinforcement for the decision to reduce doubt or anxiety.

Poverty:

The state of being poor and unable to provide for basic needs on a consistent basis.

Prepurchase expectations

Beliefs about the anticipated performance of a product or service.

Private resources:

Those resources owned and/or controlled by an individual, family, or group.

Proactive:

Characteristic of taking responsibility for one’s own life. Proactive people accept responsibility for their own actions; they do not blame others or circumstances for their behavior.

Probability:

The likelihood of a certain outcome.

Problem recognition:

Perception by an individual or family of a significant difference between their lifestyle and some desired or ideal lifestyle.

Problems:

Questions, dilemmas, or situations that need solving.

Problem solving:

Making many decisions that lead to the resolution of a problem.

Process:

A system of operations that work together to produce an end result.

Procrastinator:

Someone who puts off work and postpones and delays decisions.

Proxemics:

Distance between speakers.

Psychic income:

One’s perception or feelings about income; the satisfaction derived from income.

Psychological hardiness:

The characteristic way of people who have a sense of control over their lives; they are committed to self, work, relationships, and other values and do not fear change.

Psychologically flexible:

Open to change.

Psychological resilience (flexibility):

Capable of handling severe stressor events.

Public resources:

Those resources that are owned and used by all the people in a locality or country.

Qualitative time measurement:

Investigation into the meaning or significance of time use; that is, the satisfaction it generates.

Quality of life:

The level of satisfaction with one’s relationships and surroundings.

Quantitative time measures:

The number, kind, and duration (e.g., minutes, hours, days) of activities that occur at specific points in time.

Radon:

A naturally occurring gaseous by-product of radioactive decay of uranium in the earth.

Reactive:

Characteristic of being overly affected by outside forces or things said.

Real income:

Income measured in prices at a certain time, reflecting the buying power of current dollars.

Real-options thinking

Process of staying open, waiting and watching for the right opportunity.

Receiving:

Listening to the verbal messages and observing the nonverbal messages.

Recession:

A moderate and temporary decline in the economy.

Reference groups:

The people who influence an individual or provide guidance or advice.

Reflective listening:

Listening for feelings.

Relative poverty:

Having significantly less income and wealth than others in a member’s society.

Relative values:

Values that are interpreted based on context.

REM (rapid eye movement) sleep:

Kind of sleep that occurs when the sleeper is in a light sleep; most dreams happen during REM.

Renewable resources:

Resources that are essentially unlimited, can be replaced.

Resilience:

The ability to overcome obstacles and to achieve positive outcomes after experiencing extreme difficulties.

Resiliency:

Ability to adapt.

Reskilling:

Changing up abilities through education, training, and experience.

Resource allocation:

Parceling out or planning to give resources where they are needed.

Resource education:

Bringing current and potential sustainability problems to the forefront for discussion and resolution.

Resource forecasting:

Planning or allocating resources for the future, observing trends such as population growth.

Resource leveling:

Techniques for discovering underuse or overuse and reallocating appropriately.

Resource Management:

Process of planning, scheduling, and allocating resources to maximize satisfaction, well-being, and efficiency.

Resource stock:

The sum of readily available resources an individual possesses.

Resourcefulness:

The ability to recognize and use resources effectively.

Resources:

Whatever is available to be used.

Responses:

The individual reactions that follow a message.

Retirement:

Withdrawal from full or primary employment or position or occupation.

Risk:

The possibility of pain, suffering, danger, harm, or loss from a decision; uncertainty.

Risk aversion:

Avoidance of risk.

Routine:

A habitual way of doing things such as accomplishing basic tasks that saves time and energy for other activities.

R-value:

The level of resistance in insulation materials.

Sandwich generation:

Individuals who provide or anticipate providing financial support and caring for their parents while also providing financial support and caring for their children.

Satisficers:

People who make decisions and stick with them.

Satisficing:

Selecting the first acceptable alternative.

Scanning:

An action in which individuals or families read the world searching for signals or clues that have strategic implications.

Scarcity:

A shortage or insufficient amount of supply.

Scheduling:

Sets of time-bounded activities to be done in the future based on work to be done or goals.

Screen time:

Amount of time spent on devices such as laptops, iPads, televisions, smartphones, and video games.

Self-care:

Functions and reactions under human control, self-initiated and deliberate to improve conditions such as health.

Self-monitoring:

Individuals noticing and altering their own actions, language, and reactions based on people around them includes being attuned to others before speaking or reacting.

Sending:

Saying what one means to say, with an agreement between verbal and nonverbal messages.

Sequence:

A following of one thing after another in a series or an arrangement.

Sequencing:

Ordering of activities or events so that one follows another.

Setting:

The physical surroundings where messages are communicated.

Site:

The location or situation of a house.

Sleep hygiene:

The promotion of regular and improved sleep.

Social channels:

Communication between people, such as between friends, neighbors, and family members.

Social environmental resources:

People united in a common cause through an array of societies, economic and political groups, and community organizations.

SNAP (Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program):

U.S. program provides food help and information for usually low-income individuals and families, replacing what was known as food stamps.

Social influence:

How an individual or a group affects other’s opinions, attitudes, emotions, or behaviors.

Social networks:

Broad term referring to communication connections between individuals and groups, some contain visible profiles or the exchange of personal information online.

Social Security Act:

Under this U.S. legislation, retired persons and selected others receive monthly stipends from the government.

Socialization:

The process by which people learn the rules of society or groups.

Source:

The sender or communicator.

Source reduction:

Any change in the design, manufacture, purchase, or use of materials or products, including packaging, to reduce the amount of toxicity before they become municipal solid waste.

Spam:

Unsolicited unwanted messages or junk mail on the Internet.

Standard of living:

What an individual or family aspires to.

Standards:

The quantitative and/or qualitative criteria reconciling resources with demands.

Stepfamilies:

Also called blended families, refer to families that include children from previous marriages or relationships, joining together.

Stewardship:

Responsibility to preserve the earth.

Storyboarding:

A planning technique used by advertisers and screenwriters to show the main scenes (in comic-strip style) of a commercial, news program, television show, or movie.

Strategic plans:

Type of plans using a directional approach including a search for information and a consideration of the best way to proceed.

Strategy:

A plan of action, a way of conducting and following through on operations.

Stress:

Response of the body to demands made on it.

Stress overload or pileup:

The cumulative effect of many stresses building up at one time.

Stressors events:

Situations or occurrences that cause stress.

Subsystem:

A part of a larger system.

Success:

Achievement of something desirable, can also elicit a feeling of achievement.

Superconductivity:

The conducting of electricity with almost no power loss.

Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP):

U.S. program that replaces the Food Stamp Program, a resource for low-income individuals and families.

Sustainability:

The conscious design and the consideration of impacts that consumption choices make on the environment given finite resources. Also refers to what endures, what will last, and establishing systems and processes that support life including human life.

Sustainable behavior:

Actions and behaviors that can be sustained, that are considerate of others and the environment. Can refer to the use of natural resources at the individual and household level.

Sustainable development:

A form of growth wherein societal needs, present and future, are met.

Symbols:

Things that suggest something else through association.

Syncratic:

Families in which the husband and wife share equally in making most of the decisions.

Synergize:

To produce a third alternative, a product of group thinking.

System:

An integrated set of parts that function together for some end purpose or result.

Systems theory:

A theory that emphasizes the interconnectedness and the interactions among different systems.

Systems thinking:

How parts interact, connections.

System understanding:

Know-how. The understanding of the interrelationship and pacing rates of influences among key variables.

Tangible resources:

Resources that are real, touchable, or capable of being appraised.

Task saturation:

Situation in which people are doing so much that they cannot plan or lead effectively.

Taxes:

Compulsory levies that are an important source of government revenue.

Technology:

The application of the scientific method and materials to achieve objectives.

Telecommuting:

Working from places other than conventional offices and other workspaces.

Telemedicine (telehealth):

Modern interface between doctors and patients, electronic sharing of information.

Tempo:

A time patterning or pace that feels comfortable.

Theory:

An organized system of ideas or beliefs that can be measured; a system of assumptions or principles.

Throughputs:

The processing of inputs.

Time:

A measured or measurable period.

Time bursts:

Short, intense effort and concentration.

Time displacement:

Time spent in one activity takes away from time spent in another activity.

Time management:

The conscious control of time to fulfill needs and achieve goals.

Time perception:

The awareness of the passage of time.

Time-tagging:

How one estimates sequencing, the approximate amount of time required for each activity in a sequence, and the starting and ending times for each activity.

Transfer payments:

Monies or services given for which the recipient does not directly pay.

Transformations:

Transitions from one state to another.

Transparency:

Openness in revealing information about the operations of companies, organizations, institutions, and government.

Type A persons:

People characterized by excessively striving behavior, high job involvement, impatience, competitiveness, desire for control and power, aggressiveness, and hostility.

Type B persons:

People characterized by relaxed, easygoing, reflective, and cooperative behavior.

Uncertainty:

The state or feeling of being in doubt.

Unemployment:

Being out of work.

Utility:

Value, work, applicability, productiveness, or, simply, usefulness of a resource.

Value chains:

In business, value chains are the glue that holds a business together, likewise, value chains are the glue that holds a family together. Examples of links in the value chains would be traditions and holiday celebrations, certain ways of doing things, shared goals, and identity.

Value orientation:

An internally integrated value system.

Values:

Principles that guide behavior.

Variable expenses:

Expenses in a budget for which money can be spent in a range of amounts, for such goods or services as food, entertainment, or apparel.

Verbal symbols:

Words people use.

Virtual events:

Online, involves people interacting on the web (virtual environments) vs. in-person.

Visible symbols:

Symbols that can be seen.

Vision:

A statement that serves as an inspirational guide for the future.

Vision board:

A drawing or illustration of a guide for the future.

Vision boards:

Collages of images of drawings, pictures, quotations, inspirations.

Volunteer work:

Kind of work that does not generate pay, usually performed outside the home.

Wants:

Things that are desired or wished for.

Waste stream:

All garbage or trash produced.

Water insecurity:

Lack of clean water availability.

Wealth:

The state of being rich and having an abundance of material possessions and resources.

Well-being:

A state of existence in which the individual, family, or society has a sense of security and physical, emotional, and financial health. “All is well.”

WFH (Work from home):

As the term suggests, working from home could refer to any place that is not a conventional office or company headquarters, or workspace.

Work:

Effort expended to produce or accomplish something, or activity that is rewarded, usually with pay.

Workaholism:

The inability to stop thinking about work and doing work and the feeling that work is always the most pleasurable part of life.

Work ethic:

The degree of dedication or commitment to work.

Work from Home (WFH):

Covers personal, family, and household impacts of home-based employment such as division of labor, time, and use of space.

Work psychology:

Field of study and practice that covers most aspects of work behavior and experiences.

Work simplification:

Improved, more efficient work methods in the home or in other settings.

You-messages:

Statements that often ascribe blame or judge others.

Zoomers (Gen Z):

People born mid to late 1990s and into the 2010s.