Gaslighting Edit Meaning

1.

When a ‘significant other’ or friend stops wanting to hang with you unless they can’t find anyone else to hang with.

Some believe this terminology roots back to the operation of a gas lantern and how it can be turned down in an instant as not to waste fuel (i.e. a persons time) and then turned back up once there is insufficient natural light (i.e. there’s no one else to hang with).

Unsuspecting Dupe: “Man, I don’t know what’s up with Emmy. Everything’s cool and then all of a sudden she won’t call for a couple weeks; then she’ll just start showing up again.”

Unsuspecting Dupes friend: “Yea, she’s gaslighting you bro’.”

See gas light, gaslight

2.

A form of intimidation or psychological abuse, sometimes called Ambient Abuse where false information is presented to the victim, making them doubt their own memory, perceptionand quite often, their sanity. The classic example of gaslighting is to switch something around on someone that you know they're sure to notice, but then deny knowing anything about it, and to explain that they "must be imagining things" when they challenge these changes.

A more psychological definition of gaslighting is "an increasing frequency of systematically withholding factual information from, and/or providing false information to, the victim - having the gradual effect of making them anxious, confused, and less able to trusttheir own memoryand perception.

Your spouse begins telling you things that never really happened. For instance, he says that last week he told you he was going to go to the bar with his buddies this Monday night, but you never remember him telling you that.

Or maybe your boss gets angry because you didn't prepare the report he asked you to. When you remind him that he usually prepares that particular report, he snaps that he told you to take care of it a few days ago because he was too busy. However, you know he never asked you to do so.

Both of these could be considered gaslighting.

See manipulation, brainwashing, verbal abuse, mental abuse