A new video and infographic: What is gaslighting?

We know that everything is hyper-political these days—tense, uncomfortable, even hateful.

Half the country (or world!) tiptoes around the situation, keeping quiet… while the other half yells loudly, rocked by every tiny tweet or or super-sized scandal. And that half is also split into halves, and each side thinks they’re the good guys. Or at least thinks the other side is the bad guy.

But some things are true for everyone, everywhere, on every side: abusive behavior is cruel, lies are meant to deceive, and gaslighting is gaslighting.

Wait, what’s gaslighting? The term has seen a spike in searches and mentions over the last year—especially in the lead-up to the U.S. presidential election… and in the aftermath. We made this video and infographic to help explain exactly what gaslighting means. Have a look and you’ll learn much more, but here are two bits of information to give you some context:

  1. Gaslighting” is an abusive psychological manipulation tactic.
  2. The term comes from a 1938 play called Gas Light in which a man deceives his wife to cover his crimes.

Watch our video explaining “What is gaslighting?” above, or view the infographic version below (click to get a downloadable PDF version):

If you learned something from this infographic, or think someone else could learn something from it, please share it: tremendo.us/gaslighting.

Thank you,
—The team at Tremendousness


Sources: Psychology Today, The New York Times, The Independent, The Washington Post, Teen Vogue, Wikipedia, Leah McElrath, the National Domestic Violence Hotline, as well as simple decency and common sense.


All images by Tremendousness.