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6/24/2010 - ‘A Stroke', 'a truck' or even 'senility'. Not an earthquake!

Toronto – June 24, 2010 – Hotspex releases earthquake 'emotional response' survey results.

On Wednesday eastern Canada was rocked by the largest earthquake to strike the region for more than ten years.

But are ‘rocked’ and ‘strike’ really the right words? Or do we just use them to strike an emotional chord – and what was the real emotional reaction around this ‘moving’ experience?

Initial reports put the tremor at a magnitude of 5.5 – although, within a few hours, this was downgraded to a straight 5. Much like how the initial excitement was quickly downgraded to an interesting talking point that punctuated the early afternoon – and became a good excuse to get out into the sunshine.

It is easy to generalize though, and as human beings we often project our own first hand experience and interpretations onto everyone else. To illustrate this point I am quite sure that it wasn’t sunny everywhere it was felt – but that was my experience, and that’s how it goes!

So the question is, what did YOU really feel when the earth moved, and how was that different to the rest of us?

Hotspex, a Toronto-based research firm specializing in tracking emotional responses, decided to find out. Over that last 24 hours they spoke to more than 750 people in the area of ‘ground shake’ covering eastern Canada and the north-eastern United States.

According to David Pyke, Vice President of Research at Hotspex; “Negative emotions (apprehension, shock, stress and worry) increased as the sensation of the earthquake increased. This is something you would expect. But an interesting emotional reaction was that for those who experienced it ‘weakly’ they reflected a strong sense of disappointment and of ‘being left out’. Fascination and amazement was the main emotional reaction for those who had a ‘moderate’ sensation, being replaced by fear for those who had a strong experience.”

These respondents were mainly in Ottawa, Toronto and New York City with others scattered across Ontario and Ohio. They covered a broad age range and were from all walks of life, so tracked the reactions of people at work, home and play – as well as the average ‘person on the street’.

According to Pyke, 95% of people in Ottawa, who were closest to the epicentre, felt the earthquake, and four out of every five of them described it as ‘strong’. 62% of people in Toronto felt it, although most of them were in tall buildings where it was accentuated. Two thirds of these people in Toronto said it was ‘weak’. Just 18% of people noticed the quake in New York and 83% of them felt it was weak.

Yet in all three places the majority of people didn’t initially think it was an earthquake at all. The most common immediate interpretation of the shaking was that it was caused by “…a large truck going past the building…”.

Some others commented that they thought they were having a ‘dizzy spell’, were ‘having a stroke’ or were ‘losing their mind’. One man in Ottawa said, “I didn’t understand why my bed was shaking. Frankly, the first thing that came to mind was that I was moving down the road of being possessed, a la the exorcism movie.”

Interestingly, comparatively few people jumped to the conclusion it was a caused by a bomb or some sort of terrorist action. The few comments around this included, “I thought a bomb went off or a plane had hit a building…”, “…someone had bombed the subway…”.

One security officer said: “I thought someone was trying to blow up the building… since I work at National Defence Headquarters and with all the G20 / G8 stuff going on, who knows.” Although, as this interpretation is isolated, it is a good sign that generally we seem to have recovered from our nervous ‘target complex’ that was evident in the years immediately after the 9/11 attacks.

According to the US Geological Survey and local seismologists we can expect quakes of this magnitude once every five years or so. Hopefully the next one will be as slight where, once again, people will just ask, “…is it really that windy outside?”

For additional information on this article please contact Gera Nevolovich at Hotspex, +1.416.487.5439, ext.227.

About Hotspex Inc.
Founded over 10 years ago, Hotspex is changing the marketing world's understanding of the 'why' behind consumer behaviour through highly engaging online surveys that pinpoint emotion - the hidden truth - that drives human behaviour.
Across 18 countries, decision-makers from leading manufacturers, retailers and service providers continue to rely on us for our insights, innovation and technology.
Engaged consumers, by the millions, have their say in shaping products and experiences through our Take-a-survey; Plant-a-tree program. For more information, please visit: www.hotspex.biz.

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