Jennifer Sweeton, a Stanford- and Harvard-trained trauma specialist, defined Gaslighting as “a ‘sneaky, difficult-to-identify form of manipulation (and in severe cases, emotional abuse)’ that results in the gaslightee questioning his or her own perception, experiences, and even reality. This, of course, ignored the existing power differential in relationships between men and women. However, Stern placed responsibility on the“gaslightee” to fix or get out of the relationship.
#Gaslight someone meaning professional
The term has since expanded to include other kinds of relationships.Īs a psychological concept, it was analyzed in several professional journals and finally popularized in Robin Stern’s 2007 book, The Gaslight Effect, which describes gaslighting as a phenomenon of “mutual participation” between “gaslighter” (perpetrator) and“gaslightee”(victim). Psychologists were the first to define gaslighting as an interpersonal dynamic between two people, often a romantic couple, in which one partner is manipulated into doubting their sense of reality. Since its opening in 1944, the term has entered the public lexicon as a real thing. He does so by making subtle changes in the environment (dimming the gaslights, for example) and then denying that anything has changed. The film chronicles the descent of a young woman (Ingrid Bergman) into a severe state of self doubt at the hands of her husband, who works tenaciously and systematically, for his own purposes, to erode her sanity. The term gaslighting has its origins in a 1938 play, Angel Street, by Patrick Hamilton, which was adapted into a movie, Gaslight, starring Ingrid Bergman and Charles Boyer. Projecting weakness, incompetence and inferiority is especially effective with people or groups who may already be vulnerable to self doubt or prone to being scapegoats. Examples include calling people “nasty,” “liars,” “not very smart,” “ weak,” and even “racist.” Such comments distract people from recognizing those same qualities in him. A particularly effective, albeit opaque, aspect of gaslighting used by our president is that of projection, a psychological defense mechanism, and therefore unconscious, which involves projecting one’s rejected, undesirable feelings, thoughts or personality qualities onto someone else. That may be why the term gaslighting is now being applied to the tactics of politicians like Donald Trump. Wikipedia defines gaslighting as a form of psychological manipulation in which a person or a group covertly sows seeds of doubt in a targeted individual or group, making them question their own memory, perception, or judgment, often evoking in them cognitive dissonance and other changes, including low self-esteem.” It is important to note that the definition includes both individuals and groups both can be targets of gaslighting. Gaslighting is most often associated with personal relationships, but its insidious nature is also evident in the social and political realms.
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