systematic thinking and autism

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Is being best at systematic thinking a common trait of autism spectrum disorders?

well i mean, it is a trait for us to think about smaller details rather than the "big picture", so i'd assume so

(if that's what systematic thinking is, though i may be confusing it with another term)

I say definitely YES.
It's a type of reductionist approach that is controlled by conscious thought and uses consciously learned logic.

I think we gravitate to this type of thinking due to years of conditioning being without the help of intuition (subconscious schemas) because they either aren't there, aren't easily accessible, or have proven to be unreliable.

I believe so. I plan out nearly everything I do, piece by piece, rather than rush into things.

I see 'systematic' as a way to balance 'details' and 'big picture'.
Ironically it isn't uncommon for me to see NTs who appear more concerned with 'means' than 'ends' or even come over as obsessive over something trivial. (Including wanting to change things without much clue as to how this might improve things.)

Agreed. I tend to be very big picture oriented and the details often don't work out, but that I think is mainly because my thinking includes only ideas and excludes emotions altogether - mine and other people's - which unfortunately doesn't make them disappear.
A therapist recently informed me I think "entirely strategically." Maybe strategy includes a considered, logical, methodical approach that could be termed systematic.

Maybe that's why we stacked, lined and collected things as toddlers? That's all I ever did.

Around 1 or 2 years ago I did do an online test where you test your systematizing quotient and emphasizing quotient and I scored very high on systematizing and very low on emphasizing. There probably is a correlation but not necessarily.

Hard to understand what it means, exactly.
Or testing idk it's not that you ALWAYS do the same, it depends on the situation and then some question like: 'When I am walking in the country, I am curious about how the various kinds of trees differ?' No - I know, but it might be a question for children? In the country I had to greet all the cows! Still do!

I think of systematic thinking is about how small details fit together and what the larger outcome will be. If you want any method of doing something to work well the smaller aspects must be thought about and must be efficient

Your definition of systematic thinking reminded me of the way Temple Grandin describes her thinking style. She writes: “All my thinking is bottom-up instead of top-down. I find lots of little details and put them together to form concepts and theories”. I have a very similar bottoms-up thinking style.

Yes intuition, I many times correlate this with animal instincts, as if I was born human but without the animal instincts or in your terminology intuition. I remember being confused when teachers would say "just follow your instincts" or "trust your gut". It took me many years of observation to understand what that meant. I've always believed that in any problem there is a series of answers and each has their advantages and disadvantages with one answer generally conferring the most advantage and least disadvantage for the individual/group/etc. But society tells us don't consider too deeply just decide based on your instincts and do it. If you have no intuition it's impossible, you have to think until a good answer emerges. Apparently whether the outcome is good or bad is irrelevant, that you reacted quickly and decisively is all that matters.



I do the same, but from a large variety of sources. I like finding concepts that are the same in different disciplines, merging them, and then following that tree trunk up through all it's various branches and possibilities until I reach the top. It's a very organic thought pattern compared to the traditional problem/solution method employed by most people.