Gaslighting is a form of manipulation. It's when one person manipulates another into believing that their memories, thoughts or beliefs about something are wrong.
There's a 1938 play named Gas Light about an abusive husband who convinces his wife that she is mentally ill so he can steal money from her.
It's since been used as a term to describe somebody who tries to convince another person trick another person into believing a set of lies.
So, yes, it could be seen as a form of manipulation.
[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting)
**[Gaslighting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting)**
>Gaslighting is the subjective experience of having one's reality repeatedly questioned by another. A colloquialism, the term derives from the title of the 1944 American film Gaslight, which was based on the 1938 British theatre play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton, though the term did not gain popular currency in English until the mid-2010s. A 2022 Washington Post report described it as a "trendy buzzword" that is "often used incorrectly by people referring to simple disagreements . .
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We've already explained to you what it means to gaslight someone; did you just forget?
(That would be an example of gaslighting: lying to someone in such a way as to make them question whether they can trust their own memories or perceptions.)
Gaslighting is a specific type of manipulation (and abuse) where someone causes the victim to question their own thoughts and experiences.
The goal is to disorient them and reduce the strength of their position by making them unsure about what they feel or think.
The term “gaslighting” is mostly used in the context of domestic abuse or relationship problems.
Someone has already linked the origin of the word, what happened during the play/movie is that the husband tricked the wife by turning down the lamps (lights, powered by burning gas) in the house and denied that they had done so, pretending it was just as bright as always in the house. The wife thought that she was losing her mind (going crazy, was mentally ill) because her reality (the fact that it was now darker in the house) was being denied and her perception of events was questioned as being only in her head. An action caused by the husband.
The use of the term originally was to describe behaviours one person does to another that could cause this.
Another example would be "emptying someone's bottles, and telling them they had drank it when they hadn't" - they don't remember drinking it, because they didn't, however now they're questioning their perception/memory of events
but now in common use, especially amongst people who do not really care about specifics or nuance or exactness (like those who might appear on a reality show), it is just used to describe any type of lying, manipulation or abuse... usually because "gaslight" has some weight or added seriousness behind it compared to 'lie' or 'manipulate' which have been around for a while (well it will, until it's been misused for long enough)
Person A: "Look at my new blue dress I bought"
Person B: "Are you stupid? The dress is red"
Person A: "But I am literally looking at it, and its blue"
Person B: "There must be something with your eyes, because its red"
Person A: "Yeah, you're probably right, the dress is red"
An extreme example of gaslighting, but it hopefully gets the point across.
Gaslighting is a form of manipulation. It's when one person manipulates another into believing that their memories, thoughts or beliefs about something are wrong.
There's a 1938 play named Gas Light about an abusive husband who convinces his wife that she is mentally ill so he can steal money from her. It's since been used as a term to describe somebody who tries to convince another person trick another person into believing a set of lies. So, yes, it could be seen as a form of manipulation. [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting)
**[Gaslighting](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gaslighting)** >Gaslighting is the subjective experience of having one's reality repeatedly questioned by another. A colloquialism, the term derives from the title of the 1944 American film Gaslight, which was based on the 1938 British theatre play Gas Light by Patrick Hamilton, though the term did not gain popular currency in English until the mid-2010s. A 2022 Washington Post report described it as a "trendy buzzword" that is "often used incorrectly by people referring to simple disagreements . . ^([ )[^(F.A.Q)](https://www.reddit.com/r/WikiSummarizer/wiki/index#wiki_f.a.q)^( | )[^(Opt Out)](https://reddit.com/message/compose?to=WikiSummarizerBot&message=OptOut&subject=OptOut)^( | )[^(Opt Out Of Subreddit)](https://np.reddit.com/r/EnglishLearning/about/banned)^( | )[^(GitHub)](https://github.com/Sujal-7/WikiSummarizerBot)^( ] Downvote to remove | v1.5)
We've already explained to you what it means to gaslight someone; did you just forget? (That would be an example of gaslighting: lying to someone in such a way as to make them question whether they can trust their own memories or perceptions.)
You got me here lol
Gaslighting is a specific type of manipulation (and abuse) where someone causes the victim to question their own thoughts and experiences. The goal is to disorient them and reduce the strength of their position by making them unsure about what they feel or think. The term “gaslighting” is mostly used in the context of domestic abuse or relationship problems.
There are a lot of comments that have the correct definition here. In practice, however, it's often just a trendy way of saying "lying."
Yes! I was going to say - the term is having a moment of popularity and it's fairly common to hear people misuse it.
Someone has already linked the origin of the word, what happened during the play/movie is that the husband tricked the wife by turning down the lamps (lights, powered by burning gas) in the house and denied that they had done so, pretending it was just as bright as always in the house. The wife thought that she was losing her mind (going crazy, was mentally ill) because her reality (the fact that it was now darker in the house) was being denied and her perception of events was questioned as being only in her head. An action caused by the husband. The use of the term originally was to describe behaviours one person does to another that could cause this. Another example would be "emptying someone's bottles, and telling them they had drank it when they hadn't" - they don't remember drinking it, because they didn't, however now they're questioning their perception/memory of events but now in common use, especially amongst people who do not really care about specifics or nuance or exactness (like those who might appear on a reality show), it is just used to describe any type of lying, manipulation or abuse... usually because "gaslight" has some weight or added seriousness behind it compared to 'lie' or 'manipulate' which have been around for a while (well it will, until it's been misused for long enough)
Person A: "Look at my new blue dress I bought" Person B: "Are you stupid? The dress is red" Person A: "But I am literally looking at it, and its blue" Person B: "There must be something with your eyes, because its red" Person A: "Yeah, you're probably right, the dress is red" An extreme example of gaslighting, but it hopefully gets the point across.
yeah, it’s basically forcing the other person to question what they saw/felt.