Are you a big picture thinker or a details thinker?

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Do you think of yourself as a big picture or details thinker?
I think of myself as a big picture thinker 16%  16%  [ 17 ]
I think of myself as somewhere between a big picture and details thinker 32%  32%  [ 35 ]
I think of myself as a details thinker 52%  52%  [ 57 ]
Total votes : 109

NicksQuestions
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22 Mar 2010, 7:16 pm

If you think you're a neurotypical, please don't answer. For those who have either an autism spectrum/Asperger's diagnosis or think they're undiagnosed but with it, do you think of yourself as more of a broad perspective big picture thinker or narrowed details thinker?

And yes, there is a point to this. I just don't want to provide context quite yet since I want to see what people say.



Mdyar
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22 Mar 2010, 8:22 pm

NicksQuestions wrote:
If you think you're a neurotypical, please don't answer. For those who have either an autism spectrum/Asperger's diagnosis or think they're undiagnosed but with it, do you think of yourself as more of a broad perspective big picture thinker or narrowed details thinker?


Well objectively , the input over time Ive received from my wife is, I have an interest in all the details 'about everything'.
At times my immediate family will say I have no "common sense" in things that are obvious to them, hence I miss the big picture.

Ill say my objective is to have understanding(as anyone i guess)but my way is thru the parts encoding for details.
I understand that this is intrinsic to autism .

I don't know how n/t's go about this , but grandin alludes to perceiving the whole first and going the the other way it.

One thing Ive noticed anecdotally ( from other message boards that I peruse....high I.Q. ones)is the gifted start at bottom and work their way up too.
They also comment on missing the big picture themselves and are sometimes accused of having no common sense .
Maybe the gifted are quasi-n/t.



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22 Mar 2010, 8:30 pm

I used to be even worse, as in stuck on details. For example: in art I would begin drawing a person with the facial details, then draw a head around it. I slowly learned to sketch a rough figure first and then do details. Same with an entire composition- large areas and shapes first, then move down to details.



FredOak3
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22 Mar 2010, 8:57 pm

I'm a computer programmer and where as some guys will flow chart their programs and get and overal idea before starting I plunge right in and get going on the minor details.

I then get in the "zone", time stands still and the pieces form in my head and I can sense the parts as I continue.

Naw I'm not to Aspie :lol:



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22 Mar 2010, 10:11 pm

NTs in the Myers-Briggs Type Indicator (MBTI) - intuitive thinkers, not neuro-typicals - are big picture people, as far as I can tell, and quite a few aspies are MBTI NTs (eg INTJs, INTPs).

I am an INTx (borderline J/P, but very strong INT). I am into philosophy and languages and computer programming (compilers and stuff). Classic INTx interests.



andrew_w
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23 Mar 2010, 1:01 am

I am able to think either way (depending on the situation), but I do have somewhat of a preference for thinking in terms of details.



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23 Mar 2010, 2:01 am

I started to write out this big description, then had a revelation, then got scared.
So I think I focus on details rather than the big picture.


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23 Mar 2010, 2:38 am

andrew_w wrote:
I am able to think either way (depending on the situation), but I do have somewhat of a preference for thinking in terms of details.


Agreed. I first envision the big picture - "I wish to be a Computer Programmer", "I wish to do this" etc. but, when it comes to me actually doing so, I try too hard to focus on every specific detail - getting myself stressed beyond all belief by the end of it. Heck, I've been told I think far too detailed many a time. Especially in friendships. I try far too hard to build up a friendship, test far too much, and in the end it fails anyway.



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23 Mar 2010, 2:39 am

I'm both. I try and think of the big picture so I guess that's why I over think things. Sometimes I think I am putting into it too much but I can't stop. I think of one thing and focus on it trying to think of the big picture. When I read a post, I try and focus on all of it. That's why I keep reading it as I respond and why it takes me a while to make a reply because I don't want to make myself look stupid because I focused on one thing in the post I had ignored the rest and I had made myself look stupid.



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23 Mar 2010, 2:55 am

I think about things in great detail and sometimes miss the big picture


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23 Mar 2010, 3:15 am

Night_Owl_Amber wrote:
I think about things in great detail and sometimes miss the big picture


that's about the best way I can explain myself.


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23 Mar 2010, 3:19 am

Deffinitely a details thinker 8)


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Boudicca
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23 Mar 2010, 8:25 am

I miss many trees for the forest. :D I guess I can be a details thinker about some things, but I tend to be extremely intuitive, sometimes to the point of annoying others by pointing out the previously invisible elephant in the room. Some of my colleagues have hated me for this.



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23 Mar 2010, 8:56 am

Details, the whole details, and nothing but the details here.
I can sometimes see the big picture but it takes a conscious effort to tear myself away from the details.


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23 Mar 2010, 8:58 am

I like to look at all the details. The more details, the better.


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23 Mar 2010, 10:25 am

I voted between. I can see details and the big bicture, just not usually the same details or the same big picture others see.