One-upmanship

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

One-upmanship is the systematic and conscious practice of making one's associates feel inferior and thereby gaining the status of being "one-up" on them.

The term originated as the title of a book by Stephen Potter, published in 1952 as a follow-up to the Gamesmanship and Lifemanship titles in his series of tongue-in-cheek self-help books, and film and television derivatives, that teach various "ploys" to achieve this.

Viewed seriously, it is a phenomenon of group dynamics that can have significant effects in the management field: for instance, manifesting in office politics.

The term has been extended to a generic, often punning, extension upmanship used for any assertion of superiority: for instance, Photon upmanship, Native Upmanship, and so on.

[edit] Fictional characters with one-upmanship

Within comic strips, Topper from Dilbert and Clem from Rose is Rose are one-uppers.

In the 1980s Master Thespian (Jon Lovitz) battled wits with the great Baudelaire on Saturday Night Live in a running battle of cheesily theatrical one-upmanship.

Illusionists Robert Angier and Alfred Borden are in a competive one-upmanship in the film The Prestige.

Many short films deal with one upmanship, including Jan Svankmajer's The Last Trick, and the Pixar film One Man Band