Part 2 (Barriers to Commander Situational Awareness) Chapter 10: Human Factors

Question 1

There are human traits that are tremendous _____ to first responders and there are some that are categorized as _____

Answer 1

assets, Liabilities

Question 2

4 Common human factor trait liabilities are

Answer 2

• Physical
• Psychological
• Biological
• social in nature

Question 3

In stressful situations, you pay close attention to the clues and cues that are in your direct environment that you perceive to be the most threatening to you. Because of that your brain perceives nonthreatening clues and cues as less important. This may give you the appearance that you are _______

Answer 3

losing your focus

Question 4

Your brain takes audio stimuli and transforms it into ___ in your brain. It is possible that there is so much audio stimuli at an incident scene that your brain cannot keep up with processing all the information and listening can be impaired

Answer 4

images

Question 5

Processing complex audible messages requires the use of both the _______ cortex and the _____ cortex.

Answer 5

Audio, Visual

Question 6

The message enters the ears and the _____, ______, and _______ send the vibrations to the auditory cortex where the message is converted into electrical impulses.

Answer 6

hammer, anvil, and stirrup

Question 7

If the visual processor is busy, the audible message doesnt get processed. This can be experienced in two forms:

Answer 7

1) a complete lack of awareness of the message known as Auditory Exclusion
2) a distortion of the message - where the message is blurry or out of focus

Question 8

______ at an incident and the lack of clearly defined and communicated operational directives, strategies, and tactics can contribute to a loss of focus. Someone needs to ensure there is a common understanding of purpose, roles, and goals.

Answer 8

Role ambiguity

Question 9

______ are based, in part on your emergency services education, training, and experiences. ____ are also strongly influenced by many other factors such as religion, morals, upbringing, friends. _____ help you form your beliefs in the absence of supporting factual data.

Answer 9

assumptions

Question 10

The root word of assumption is _____ - a word whose definition includes references to one’s belief that something is true or accurate without verification or evidence

Answer 10

assume

Question 11

In his book on leadership, _____ spoke about his method for gathering facts and data in the process of making military decisions. There he noted his goal to gather 40 to 70 % of the facts and then draw on his intuition and experience to fill in the rest and make his decision

Answer 11

Colin Powell

Question 12

A false sense that this incident is like all the others where circumstances have been similar. Similar- but not exact. This is where over confidence becomes a situational awareness barrier

Answer 12

Bias of Confidence

Question 13

Responders may ____ facts and data into their mental models based on previous experiences, not the current emergency. This may be done before responders arrive. Their SA was formed based on assumed facts prior to arrival

Answer 13

pre-load

Question 14

Responders that delay making critical decisions while waiting for more information. Responders who are overconfident may make the decisions based on assumptions without validation and be wrong. Therefore confidence needs to be a

Answer 14

balancing act

Question 15

Responders with this problem may find it difficult to admit mistakes, concede defeat, or acknowledge their failures. Because of this, they may stay on the same course of action that is not headed for a positive outcome. They may even put more resources towards the bad plan. This is driven by

Answer 15

ego

Question 16

It is human nature for a person to desire ____ and to be ____

Answer 16

respect, liked

Question 17

Science has hypothesized that people become addicted to the release of a chemical when they are ____

Answer 17

right

Question 18

A confident commander can be good. An under confident commander can be _______. An overconfident commanders can be ______

Answer 18

dangerous, deadly

Question 19

Filters that allow people to see what they want to see and avoid seeing things they dont want to see can be described as

Answer 19

perception of reality

Question 20

Rank does not make a supervisor have better SA. It just gives the supervisor the authority to declare himself _____

Answer 20

right

Question 21

Dept ____ can be a human factor barrier due to deep beliefs in their organizations traditions and pride.

Answer 21

culture

Question 22

Allowing your crews to do something dangerous that you know should not be done out of fear of being ridiculed by their subordinates describes the powerful need to be ____

Answer 22

liked

Question 23

Competent commanders are approachable and appreciate being respectfully informed if they are going to make a mistake or are overlooking something important. At the end of the day, the goal is for

Answer 23

everyone to go home safe

Question 24

The feeling of satisfaction and low vigilance people may experience when the become at ease with a situation.

The more mundane our routine a call may appear, the greater potential for responders to be _______

Answer 24

complacency