What communication brings to the study of gaslighting: metatheory toward interdisciplinarity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Communication scholars are uniquely positioned to engage in complex, interdisciplinary research that integrates insights from different fields alongside a key expertise in the role of human symbol use. Viewing symbolizing as one of many central elements in complex social problems, we argue that communication scholars benefit when they begin from an interdisciplinary posture in conducting their research. We take as a case study the example of gaslighting. We show how research on gaslighting from philosophy, psychology, and sociology profits from the addition of insights from the field of communication and propose directions for future research on gaslighting that incorporate communication into robust interdisciplinary projects.