The DOI matches its Crossref record; 55 of the 57 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
“It's not in your head”: Gaslighting, ‘splaining, victim blaming, and other harmful reactions to microaggressions
Abstract
Secondary microaggressions refer to the ways in which people of historically dominant groups negate the realities of people of marginalized groups. Gaslighting describes the act of manipulating others to doubt themselves or question their own sanity; people confronted for committing microaggressions deny the existence of their biases, often convincing the targets of microaggressions to question their own perceptions. ‘Splaining (derived from mansplaining/Whitesplaining) is an act in which a person of a dominant group speaks for or provides rationale to people of marginalized groups about topics related to oppression or inequity. Victim blaming refers to assigning fault to people who experience violence or wrongdoing and is used as a tool to discredit people of marginalized groups who speak out against microaggressions or any injustices. Finally, abandonment and neglect refer to a bystander’s failure to address or acknowledge microaggressions. Although these terms are commonly known among marginalized communities (and frequently used in popular media), there is a dearth in academic literature that substantiates these phenomena and relates them to microaggressions. The purpose of this article is to review these concepts in the psychological literature and to demonstrate the psychological harm caused by these behaviors on interpersonal and systemic levels.
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An Evidence-Based Approach for Treating Stress and Trauma due to Racism
Williams, M. T., Holmes, S. C., Zare, M., Haeny, A. M., & Faber, S. C. (2022) · Cognitive and Behavioral Practice · doi:10.1016/j.cbpra.2022.07.001 · Cited by 94
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Where Sex Meets Gender: How Sex and Gender Come Together to Cause Sex Differences in Mental Illness
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Workplace gaslighting: Conceptualization, development, and validation of a scale
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Metadata
- Authors
- Johnson, V. E., Nadal, K. L., Sissoko, D. R. G., & King, R.
- Affiliations
- The Graduate Center, CUNY (US)
- Venue
- Perspectives on Psychological Science
- Publisher
- SAGE Publications
- Published
- 2021-09
- Volume
- 16
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 1024-1036
- ISSN
- 1745-6916 (ISSN-L)
- 1745-6924
- OpenAlex
- W3197859186
- Cited by
- 136
- References
- 57
- Citations by year
- 2026: 18 · 2025: 32 · 2024: 36 · 2023: 30 · 2022: 16 · 2021: 4
- FWCI
- 4.13
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- closed
- Locations
- Perspectives on Psychological Science (publishedVersion)
- PubMed (publishedVersion)
- Topics
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Social and Intergroup Psychology
- Social Sciences › Sociology and Political Science › Racial and Ethnic Identity Research
- Social Sciences › Psychology › Clinical Psychology › Counseling Practices and Supervision
- Keywords
- microaggressions, gaslighting, mansplaining, victim blaming, bystander behavior, psychological harm, marginalized communities, systemic oppression, interpersonal harm
- MeSH terms
- Microaggression, Gaslighting, Aggression, Mental Disorders, Humans, Violence
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