CJBAT Observation & Perception 3 — Questions and Answers
Question 1: An officer responding at night should position a flashlight to:
- Shine directly into their own eyes
- Illuminate the area without blinding themselves (Correct answer)
- Stay off to preserve battery during a search
- Point only at the sky
Correct answer: Illuminate the area without blinding themselves
Proper lighting improves observation while avoiding self-glare that ruins night vision.
Question 2: Which description gives the MOST useful suspect information in a broadcast?
- Male, suspicious-looking
- Male, ~6 ft, red hoodie, blue jeans, heading north on Main (Correct answer)
- Someone who seemed nervous
- A tall guy who ran away
Correct answer: Male, ~6 ft, red hoodie, blue jeans, heading north on Main
Specific, objective physical and directional details make a description actionable.
Question 3: Perceiving something that is not actually present is called a:
- Baseline
- Hallucination or perceptual error (Correct answer)
- Field of view
- Direct observation
Correct answer: Hallucination or perceptual error
Perceiving stimuli that are not present is a perceptual error or hallucination.
Question 4: An officer expects a certain person to be guilty and therefore notices only evidence supporting that belief. This is:
- Confirmation bias (Correct answer)
- Peripheral vision
- Active listening
- Situational awareness
Correct answer: Confirmation bias
Confirmation bias is focusing on information that supports a pre-existing belief.
Question 5: To estimate a suspect's height with no reference object, the best approach is to:
- Guess randomly
- Compare them to a nearby fixed object like a doorway (Correct answer)
- Assume everyone is 6 feet tall
- Refuse to give any estimate
Correct answer: Compare them to a nearby fixed object like a doorway
Comparing to a known fixed reference improves height estimation accuracy.
Question 6: Maintaining awareness of everything happening around you in a scene is called:
- Tunnel vision
- Situational awareness (Correct answer)
- Selective amnesia
- Color constancy
Correct answer: Situational awareness
Situational awareness is continuous attention to the surrounding environment.
Question 7: Under high stress, an officer may experience 'tunnel vision,' which means:
- Improved peripheral awareness
- Narrowed focus that misses surrounding details (Correct answer)
- Better color perception
- Perfect total recall
Correct answer: Narrowed focus that misses surrounding details
Stress-induced tunnel vision narrows attention and causes loss of peripheral detail.
CJBAT Observation & Perception 3
An officer responding at night should position a flashlight to: