Are you a lumper or a splitter?

[Edwardo Piet]

In every classification scheme, there are two camps. There are those classifiers who tend to find similarities between things and prefer to lump smaller groups into larger groups, and on the other hand those catalogers who tend to find differences and prefer to split larger groups into smaller groups. In thinking about human nature, too, there are lumpers and splitters.

I have another example. It applies to autism too. I recently got diagnosed with Autism Spectrum Disorder... I was told that it's high functioning and it wouldn't be incorrect to say that I had Aspergers Syndrome... but my official diagnosis wasn't Aspergers. Why? Because the multi-disciplinary team that assessed me are lumpers rather than splitters.