Are you a big picture thinker or a details thinker?

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I voted in between. I see the big picture and like to keep it in mind but tend to build the big picture by looking at the details and adding the additional details that will fill out my understanding of the big picture until I have a detailed big picture.

No wonder I have such great big picture insights but by the time I have figured the big picture in a social interaction everybody else has left.

PS I am INFJ/INTJ (F/T is about 51/49 on the test)

I can't answer the poll. To do that would make it sound like big picture and details are opposites. They're not. I do both. And not just a little of both. Not in between the two. I see big pictures that are inseparable from their details. It's not in between the two, it's both ends at once. Because they aren't really ends. That's just a common belief but it doesn't have to be true.

It seems like to me it's none aspies who miss the big picture and I don't. Let's see, a person walks into a restaurant to apply for a job. His clothes are out of style and they don't match. A application is handed to him and he fills it out and returns it the next day. This time he is wearing dirty clothes because he was out running and he is all covered in sweat. The person doesn't call him for an interview because he was so focused on the details of what he had on and what he was like when he returned the application they didn't think of the overall picture. But that is not something I would do. Lot of people don't analyze is why. They would rather judge than get to know the person first and looking at what they have down on their application and what their work history is like and looking at their references. I think it's laziness they do. To make their jobs easier, they would rather find the details on the person and use it as an excuse to not call them for an interview.

I suppose I am relatively detail oriented in some ways, but I consider myself heavily big picture.

The reason being that I am a lot more concerned about being "right" in some sense of the broader concept than I am about the smaller details. I've always been like this as well(ok, maybe not ALWAYS always, but pretty often historically and for much of my remembered life). In fact, in doing school work, I've always been more focused on whether I have the broad concept right than in doing well on the details. I dunno.... maybe some would say I am a mix because I am not a person who jumps around but rather I make sure that every detail for something important is considered when doing something, and I am a person who wants pretty concrete big pictures rather than empty impressions, but I do think I work better with concepts than nitty gritty details. (and yes, my MBTI is INTJ)

Details, it's a big problem for me. I often do things wrong but I'm concentrating on one small aspect of the problem, and not the whole thing. I would love it if I could concentrate on both, but I can only really concentrate on the fine details.

Big picture. I get an idea in my head and then wing all the details needed to make it happen.

In some cases I go for the central principle or theme, in other cases I deal with the minute details. It depends on the problem. For math, I go for the central idea. For physics I deal with the details. In the real world the Devil is in the Details.

ruveyn

I voted for being both because it really depends on what I'm looking at. Although I can't think of a specific big picture example, I do have a details example: jigsaw puzzles. I can work on a puzzle for hours and not know what the picture is or how much I have done because I'm too focused on the shape and design of each puzzle piece, trying to figure out which pieces it goes beside. I literally have to move away from the table to be able to see the whole thing.

Every now and then I have these revelations and say "I GET IT!'
Sadly... those are thoughts that most people know from instinct. heh =p

I tend to be a detail thinker... kind of obsess about little things and get overwhelmed with big tasks. [Cleaning my room... mmm]

I used to think that I was completely a "big picture" thinker, but lately I've noticed that I get very bogged down in the details. When I'm thinking about history or politics or psychology, say, I'm really into general trends, with details just for support. But when it comes to thinking about something concrete, like putting out iced donuts by 6am for work, I get caught up in the details (are they in the correct, alternating order?) sometimes to the point of overlooking the main point - just get iced donuts out there for customers!
Also, if I start thinking about something in my general, big picture way, and a detail catches my mind, that one detail can become all-consuming until I realize what I'm doing and jump back to the big picture.

One thing I find most fascinating is how things relate to one-another, and how that relationship relates to other things - I've always thought of this as big picture thinking.
I'm also known for "nitpicking", and you'd better get your details right, darn it.

BTW, I'm INTP, so I "should" think big picture.
I didn't answer the poll; there was no "I think big picture, but details derail me".

Definitely a detail thinker. I am a bit crap at gestalt thinking.