- psychological manipulation tactic used to abuse by instilling doubt in the victim's own thoughts, observations, feelings by denying, misdirecting, and lying to them; originated from the Gaslight play (1933) and film (1944), where a man manipulates his wife's perception of reality by denying her observations while changing the lights in the house. + psychological manipulation tactic used to abuse by instilling doubt in the victim's own thoughts, observations, feelings by denying, misdirecting, and lying to them; originated from the Gaslight play (1933) and film (1944), where a man changes the lights in the house, while denying her observations of the changes.