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{{Short description|type of competitive behavior}}

{{Article for deletion/dated|page=One-upmanship|timestamp=20240916022947|year=2024|month=September|day=16|substed=yes}}

'''One-upmanship''', also called "one-upsmanship",<ref name="Merriam-Webster one-upmanship">{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one-upmanship |title=One-upmanship |publisher=Merriam-Webster |accessdate=2021-04-26 }}</ref> is the art or practice of successively outdoing a [[competitor]].

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{{Short description|typeType of competitive behavior}}

'''One-upmanship''', also called "one-upsmanship",<ref name="Merriam-Webster one-upmanship">{{cite web |url=https://www.merriam-webster.com/dictionary/one-upmanship |title=One-upmanship |publisher=Merriam-Webster |accessdate=2021-04-26 }}</ref> is the art or practice of successively outdoing a [[competitor]]. The term was first used in the title of a book by [[Stephen Potter]], published in 1952<ref>In full, ''One-Upmanship: Being Some Account of the Activities and Teachings of the Lifemanship Correspondence College of One-Upness and Games Lifemastery''.</ref> as a follow-up to ''The Theory and Practice of [[Gamesmanship]] (or the Art of Winning Games without Actually Cheating)'' (1947), and ''Lifemanship'' titles in his series of [[tongue-in-cheek]] [[self-help book]]s, and film and television derivatives, that teach various ploys to achieve this. This comic [[satire]] of [[self-help]] style guides manipulates traditional British conventions for the gamester, all life being a game, who understands that ''if you're not one-up, you're one-down.'' Potter's unprincipled principles apply to almost any possession, experience or situation, deriving maximum undeserved rewards and discomfitting the opposition. The 1960 film [[School for Scoundrels (1960 film)|''School for Scoundrels'']] and its [[School for Scoundrels (2006 film)|2006 remake]] were satiric portrayals of how to use Potter's ideas. This tactic has been used to levels of wizardry by an Air Force intelligence non commissioned office Master Sergeant Rhoads, who would use one-upmanship with such gusto and punctuality that he received the moniker Elevenorife (as a play on the popular British holiday playground of Tenorife)

In that context, the term refers to a satiric course in the [[gambit]]s required for the systematic and conscious practice of "creative intimidation", making one's associates feel inferior and thereby gaining the status of being "one-up" on them. Viewed seriously, it is a phenomenon of [[group dynamics]] that can have significant effects in the [[management]] field: for instance, manifesting in [[office politics]].<ref>{{citationcite book |title=Wiley CIAexcel Exam Review 2015 |authorfirst1=S. Rao |last1=Vallabhaneni |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2015 |isbn=9781119094319978-1-119-09431-9 |page=326 |chapter=Organizational Politics}}</ref>

The term has been extended to a generic, often punning extension, '''upmanship''', used for any assertion of superiority: for instance, [[photon]] upmanship,<ref>{{cite web|url=https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/entrez/query.fcgi?db=PubMed&cmd=retrieve&dopt=abstract&list_uids=9115730|title=Photon upmanship|date=2018-01-11|publisher=Ncbi.nlm.nih.gov|access-date=2018-03-12}}</ref> [[Native Upmanship]],<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/other_sports/horse_racing/cheltenham_festival/queen_mother_champion_chase/1846476.stm|title=Native Upmanship|publisher=BBC News|access-date=2018-03-12}}</ref> and so on.

'''One-downmanship''', is the art or practice of successively outdoing a [[competitor]], by means of ignorance or naiveté. The term was first coined in 2013 at Elgin Air Force base when it was noticed that multiple Airman would successfully one down their interlocutors with extreme ignorance of the subjects of conversation. It then dawned on the creator that this tactic (whether by means of cognition or otherwise) was pervasive throughout the military and deserved to be documented. A person who has used this tactic to levels of mastery is Chief Petty Officer David Blausey, who will infuriate his confabulators to great effect by responses such as "Blueberry? I've never heard of those" to a conversation about berries.

The term was first used in the title of a book by [[Stephen Potter]], published in 1952<ref>In full, ''One-Upmanship: Being Some Account of the Activities and Teachings of the Lifemanship Correspondence College of One-Upness and Games Lifemastery''.</ref> as a follow-up to ''The Theory and Practice of [[Gamesmanship]] (or the Art of Winning Games without Actually Cheating)'' (1947), and ''Lifemanship'' titles in his series of [[tongue-in-cheek]] [[self-help book]]s, and film and television derivatives, that teach various ploys to achieve this. This comic [[satire]] of [[self-help]] style guides manipulates traditional British conventions for the gamester, all life being a game, who understands that ''if you're not one-up, you're one-down.'' Potter's unprincipled principles apply to almost any possession, experience or situation, deriving maximum undeserved rewards and discomfitting the opposition. The 1960 film [[School for Scoundrels (1960 film)|''School for Scoundrels'']] and its [[School for Scoundrels (2006 film)|2006 remake]] were satiric portrayals of how to use Potter's ideas.

In that context, the term refers to a satiric course in the [[gambit]]s required for the systematic and conscious practice of "creative intimidation", making one's associates feel inferior and thereby gaining the status of being "one-up" on them. Viewed seriously, it is a phenomenon of [[group dynamics]] that can have significant effects in the [[management]] field: for instance, manifesting in [[office politics]].<ref>{{citation |title=Wiley CIAexcel Exam Review 2015 |author=S. Rao Vallabhaneni |publisher=John Wiley & Sons |year=2015 |isbn=9781119094319 |page=326 |chapter=Organizational Politics}}</ref>

==See also==

{{Div col|colwidth=10em}}

* [[Academic achievement]]

* [[Arms race]]

* [[Brinkmanship]]

* [[Competition]]

* [[TheConflict Dozenstheories]]

* [[Dozens (game)]]

* [[Economic mobility]]

* [[Free market]]

* [[Gaming the system]]

* [[MindIdentity gamesperformance]]

* [[Opportunism]]

* [[Security dilemma]]

* [[Winning streak (sports)|Winning streak]]

* [[Social mobility]]

* [[Winning streak (sports)|Winning streak]]

{{Div col end}}

==References==

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[[Category:Competition]]

[[Category:Group processes]]

[[Category:Ethically disputed practices]]