Observation

and
Description
Lesson 3
Course: Fundamentals of Intelligence
Observation
• Refers to the action or process of taking
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details of something or someone in order to
gain information.

• To be observant is to notice significant details.

2
 Description
• The actual and factual reporting of one’s observation of the reported sensory
experience recounted by another.

• “The way we become aware of anything is through our senses”

 Psychologist Estimates that approximately:

•85 % of the things we learn is gathered through Sight
•13 % is through hearing
•2 % through taste, touch and smell (combined)

3 ODEX 2023
 Three (3) Psychological Process for Accurate
Observation

1. Attention 2. Perception 3. Reporting

• consists of • consists of • used in two (2)
psychological process psychological process senses: a) identifying
involved in becoming involved in by name in one’s own
aware of a fact (aware understanding this mind some facts
of the existence of a fact of awareness. which has been
fact) perceived. 2) Report-
narrate what was
perceived.

4 ODEX 2023
 Types of Attention
1. Involuntary 2. Voluntary
• we have no control • observer tries to pay
and it requires no attention but not in
effort. (least reliable) total control.
3. Habitual
• observer exerts little
effort but will have
maximum control.

5 ODEX 2023
 Factors that Influence Attention
(1)Size – (extra ordinary from the rest) appears to be distinct.
(2)Change – (any change: small to big; dark to bright; silence to noisy etc.)
(3)Repetition – (single stimulus might not be retained in the brain-but
when repeated, it will)
(4)Striking Quality – (Uniqueness)
(5)Interest – (Focus)
(6)Organic Condition – (status of senses used)
(7)Suggestion – (initial info might be perceived as the correct observation)

6 ODEX 2023
 Factors Involved In Perception

Mental Capability Educational background Occupational background Empirical background

Intellectual ability One’s learning focus One’s “language” Acquired through
experience

7 ODEX 2023
 Factors Governing Report
Vocabulary Time Lag/Gap Recurrence of Similar
Incident
• use exact and • delayed reporting may • observer are confused
appropriate words. cause omission of when similar incident
things observed. has been observed.

8 ODEX 2023
How to
Improve
Memory
 Memory
• Refers to the psychological processes of acquiring, storing, retaining, and later retrieving information.

• Human memory involves the ability to both preserve and recover information.

• Three (3) Major processes involved in memory:

encoding, storage, and retrieval.

10 ODEX 2023
 Types of Memory
1. Sensory memory – is the 2. Short-term memory – also
earliest stage of memory. known as active memory, is the
information we are currently
During this stage, aware of or thinking about.
sensory information from
the environment is stored It is often used
for a very brief period of interchangeably with
time, generally for no "working memory", which
longer than a half-second refers to the processes that
for visual information and are used to temporarily
three or four seconds for store, organize, and
auditory information. manipulate information.
11 ODEX
3. Long-Term Memory – refers
to the continuing storage of
information. It is also called the
preconscious and unconscious.
This information is
largely outside of our
awareness but can be called
into working memory to be
used when needed. Some
memories are fairly easy to
recall, while others are
much more difficult to
access.
2023
Reasons Why We
Forget
(1) Failure to store a memory 

(2) Interference 

(3) Motivated forgetting 

(4) Retrieval failure

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 Improve Memory through:
Write it down

Attach meaning to it

Repeat it
13 ODEX 2023
 Improve Memory through:
Group it

Test yourself

Take a mental picture

14 ODEX 2023
 Improve Memory through:

Get enough rest

Use memorization
techniques
15 ODEX 2023
Summary
1. Definition of 5. Factors Involved
Observation and in Perception
Description 6. Factors Governing
(ODEX) Report
2. Three (3) 7. Memory Training
Psychological in Intelligence
Processes for 8. Types of Memory
accurate 9. Why We Forget
observation 10. How To Improve
3. Types of Attention Memory
4. Factors That
Influence
Attention

16
Thank you!
PLTCOL JONNEL N AVERILLA O-22261
Criminalistics 1 Professor
Department of Forensic Science
ACADG, PNPA