The Michael Shermer Show The Psychology of Gaslighting, Bullying, Cults, and Coercion
Mar 31, 2026
Jennifer Fraser, author and researcher on bullying and gaslighting, explores the psychology and neuroscience behind manipulation. She discusses how abuse cultures form, why authority can distort perception, and how predators groom and exploit vulnerabilities. Conversation highlights detection strategies, institutional complicity, and the recurring patterns that show up across schools, workplaces, sports, and relationships.
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Four Components Power Abuse Cultures
- Abuse cultures use the same four components across contexts: humiliation, fear, retaliation, and favoritism, which enforce compliance and dependency.
- Fraser explains favoritism (rewarding those who comply) forces teens to choose between peer approval and obeying authority.
Empathy Split Explains Predatory Behavior
- Perpetrators who groom and exploit often show damaged affective empathy but intact or enhanced cognitive empathy, letting them read and manipulate victims without feeling remorse.
- Fraser argues many abusers treat victims as objects to conquer, seeking power and humiliation rather than sexual intimacy.
Modern Gaslighting Is Institutional And Personal
- Gaslighting now broadly means grossly misleading someone for advantage, extending from intimate relationships to workplaces, institutions, and politics.
- Fraser traces the term to the 1940s film where a husband intentionally convinces his wife she's crazy.
