Pedantry

PEDANTRY is a complex character trait, the external manifestation of which is a tendency toward the meticulous observance of trifles, sometimes to the detriment of the substance of the matter. This feature is often combined with a certain limitation of the psyche, an inability to separate the essential from the insignificant, and a narrowness of horizon. This feature of the mental structure is mediated by the socio-class value of the individual. In certain mental diseases, similar features arise in the structure of the psyche in patients, roughly resembling the main elements of the indicated complex characterological formation, but their nature is different (e.g., pedantry of an epileptic). If one adheres to a schematic division into three psychopathological circles (psychasthenic, schizoid, and epileptoid), then in each of their representatives one can often note traits of pedantry that grow out of the features of a given series and develop in connection with and regarding the specific historical situation (for a given individual) in which he lives and acts. Despite the similarity of the signs of pedantry in all three groups, their psychological motivation differs sharply. Traits of pedantry can be derivatives of various mental properties within the framework of combination with other personality properties. Anxiety, suspiciousness, indecision, difficulty in making independent decisions—traits characteristic of psychasthenic people—compel them to painstaking pettiness in order to prevent complications or guilt that may occur in their opinion. Schizoid pedantry grows mainly from the properties of affective connectedness, dullness, and negativistic traits inherent in some groups of this circle. The heaviness of thought, viscosity and sluggishness of the psyche, and a tendency to affective fixation are usually used to motivate the pedantry of some representatives of the epileptoid circle. Sometimes pedantry accompanies litigious tendencies and grows on their basis. Pedantry developing as a result of a pathological process (schizophrenia, epilepsy, gross organic lesions of the brain) bears the stamp of dementia. This process is characterized by weakness of judgment, a decline in critical abilities, and a change in emotional tone.

Ya. Frumkin.