Concept creep is the process by which harm-related topics experience
semantic expansion to include topics which would not have originally been envisaged to be included under that label. It was first described in a
''Psychological Inquiry'' article by Nick Haslam in 2016, who identified its effects on the concepts of abuse, bullying, trauma, mental disorder, addiction, and prejudice. Others have identified its effects on terms like "
gaslight" and "
emotional labour
Emotional labor is the work of trying to feel the right feeling for a job, either by evoking or suppressing feelings. It requires the capacity to manage and produce a feeling to fulfill the emotional requirements of a job. More specifically, work ...
".
The phenomenon can be related to the concept of
hyperbole
Hyperbole (; adj. hyperbolic ) is the use of exaggeration as a rhetorical device or figure of speech. In rhetoric, it is also sometimes known as auxesis (literally 'growth'). In poetry and oratory, it emphasizes, evokes strong feelings, and cre ...
.
It has been criticised for making people more sensitive to harms
and for blurring people's thinking and understanding of such terms, by categorising too many things together which should not be, and by losing the clarity and specificity of a term.
Although the initial research on concept creep has focused on concepts central to the
political left
Left-wing politics describes the range of political ideologies that support and seek to achieve social equality and egalitarianism, often in opposition to social hierarchy either as a whole or of certain social hierarchies. Left-wing politi ...
's ideology, psychologists have also found evidence that people identifying with the
political right
Right-wing politics is the range of political ideologies that view certain social orders and hierarchies as inevitable, natural, normal, or desirable, typically supporting this position based on natural law, economics, authority, property, ...
have more expansive interpretations of concepts central to their own ideology (ex. sexual deviance, personal responsibility and terrorism).
[Harper, Purser and Bagueley, Do Concepts Creep to the Left and to the Right? Evidence for Ideologically Salient Concept Breadth Judgments Across the Political Spectrum, Social Psychological and Personality Science, 2022, https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/full/10.1177/19485506221104643 ]
See also
*
Essentially contested concept
Essentially contested concept refers to abstract terms or phrases that provide value judgements which can be contested. The term ''essentially contested concept'' was proposed to facilitate an understanding of the different interpretations of abstr ...
*
Euphemism treadmill
A euphemism ( ) is when an expression that could offend or imply something unpleasant is replaced with one that is agreeable or inoffensive. Some euphemisms are intended to amuse, while others use bland, inoffensive terms for concepts that the u ...
*
Victim mentality
Victim mentality or victim complex is a psychological concept referring to a mindset in which a person, or group of people, tends to recognize or consider themselves a victim of the actions of others. The term is also used in reference to the t ...
References
Definition
Moral psychology
Psychopathology
Suffering
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