In a style of relating I call “imparted connoisseurship,” one person acting as a hyperdiscriminating “master” inducts another in the role of eager “disciple” into a preoccupation with the finer points of a mutually compelling interest or endeavor. In its unhealthy version, instead of enriching and strengthening the other, this form of relating coercively co-opts the psyche of the disciple. It generates self-critical shame in the disciple, or evokes a wafer-thin feeling of superiority that defends against a heightened unconscious sense of personal insufficiency and self-contempt. The damaging version of imparted connoisseurship belongs within the set of intrapsychic and interpersonal phenomena I call “micro-trauma,” an insidious if subtle psychic bruising that gradually erodes one's sense of wellbeing, efficacy, and/or self-worth. In this article, I explore destructive connoisseurship as it plays out in various configurations-between two peers, mentor and protégé, parent and child, analytic supervisor and supervisee, and analyst and patient.