Uncanny Valley Explained | Why Robots, Dolls and Mannequins are Creepy

The Uncanny Valley Explained - Why Robots, Dolls and Mannequins are Creepy

The Uncanny Valley is a common unsettling, anxious, creepy feeling people experience when androids, robots, dolls, mannequins, video games and animations closely resemble humans but are not quite realistic enough.

The phenomenon is a consideration in a number of areas of design including robotics, video game art, training simulators and 3-D animation. Designers work hard to avoid the Uncanny Valley or exploit it to elicit a particular response.

The feelings of Uncanny Valley can reach extreme levels like revulsion, exceeding those experienced when viewing a corpse. The Uncanny Valley effect is experienced at different levels by different individuals, depending on the familiarity of the subject materials. Designers can bridge the valley with changes like the addition of cartoon-like or "cuter" features

Still, all humans are susceptible to Uncanny Valley. You are, too.

Let's find out why.

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#uncanny #science #psychology

[garywatson]

Dude, I'm really digging your videos. If you're trying to reach middle-aged smart asses... BULLSEYE!

[DangerNdl]

One of the most horrifying things I've ever heard is that when someone pointed out that the existence of the uncanny valley implies that at some point there was a evolutionary reason to be afraid of something that looked human but wasn't

[TheDramacist]

People with TOO MUCH COSMETIC SURGERY instantly acquire "android face" and uncanny valley vibes

[chrissnell]

I work at MIT and there is a "robot dog" that i see frequently. It learns different terrain and remembers how to walk on these surfaces. But, while it's learning... it walks like the girl in the Ring movie. Very erratic, and spider like. It's an amazing invention but I personally am so creeped out by the thing waking around. This video sheds a little light on why I'm so freaked out by it.

[byronleemarley]

People joke about Zuckerberg, but I'm still not convinced that he's actually human. It's not just his expressions and mannerisms, it's everything from his hair to his skin. He reminds me of Data from Star Trek TNG. Definitely spooky.

[samuelantal]

Zuckerberg jokes never get old, same as him

[kr]

I struggle with uncanny valley because it really frustrates me. It is hard for me to really be affected by it - for example I love polar express and never even had the thought it looked off until you said so. Then I went and looked at videos to see if I could tell and I really wasn’t bothered by it and enjoyed watching some of the scenes again. Where it frustrates me is where it affects people with autism. We seem “uncanny valley” to many. After receiving my diagnoses and sorting through past situations and memories I began to realize how much I was outcasted and thought to be weird. I talked a bit different, I moved a bit different, I behaved differently. I masked enough where people would let me in and then when I became more comfortable and dropped the mask…they dropped me. I remember quite a few friendships I had as a child/teen where everything seemed okay until they suddenly told me not to talk to them anymore and wouldn’t give me a reason and I couldn’t understand. My realization now was that they were put off by me. I wonder the statistics on how uncanny valley makes neurotypical vs neurodivergent people feel.

[BawlzMcGeeDaG]

It's almost like we have instincts to fear something that looks human, but isn't.

[Smokie]

I get the same feeling when people have way to much plastic surgery. Not sure if it's "creepy" but may be more along the lines of unsettling and awkward. Similar feelings though.

[piper]

As a Star trek fan, they wanted a android in a major role but the uncanny valley. They gave him gold not human eyes to at once set the character as android. And got a very skilled actor to play him. They started him as android and gradually he picked up human manners and habits but we were there with him. Commander Data is a well loved officer of the Enterprise

[RandomUser-dvqw]

What bothers me about uncanny valley is the implication that, at some point in our history, there was an evolutionary advantage to avoiding something that looks humanlike but isn't actually human

[corporalkills]

Part of what makes uncanny valley so potent is because much of our goal as humans when studying another living entity is because we have a need to understand the other entity’s intention. If the face is /just/ off, we can’t accurately figure out what the subject’s intention is and as a result we look to avoid them.

[henrlima]

The one time i can definitely remember experiencing this was watching Sophie, that ai robot who was in the news a few years back. Man, that thing made me feel really uncomfortable, just was watching it through a screen. I had an unexplainable urge to destroy it, with extreme prejudice. Uncanny valley is right!

[chromatophore]

Incidentally, the uncanny valley is why people find clowns so creepy.

[Licmebalzutube]

So are we all just being nice to the fish by not letting him know he falls into this category pretty neatly or what?

[eminemfan]

This channel has quickly become one of my favorites. I've binged all your videos and I only found you guys a few days ago!

[cynthiah.]

The first thing that came to mind was Mark Zuckerberg. 😳 His expressions, his demeanor. I told my daughter that I felt uncomfortable every time I saw him in videos. I thought it was just me, and I couldn't put my finger on it, but now I have a name for it. Uncanny Valley.

[avamasquerade]

Worst nightmare I ever had, I was 8 years old, and standing across a step on our unwalled basement stairs looking into the eyes of another me. I was horrified on some kind of primal level...I can't explain it. ...it was just so vivid. I was so fascinated and determined not to be afraid that the next day I went down into the basement and dared the other me to appear as I stared at the somehow gnawing space on the other side of the very same step from my dream. Nothing happened. I concluded that the other me is a coward. But she's haunted the liminal spaces of my mind ever since...

[NightWatchGaming]

The concept that we fear the uncanny valley as a survival instinct against mental illness and sociopaths/psychopaths is the best explanation for the phenomena I've heard yet. Bravo!

[shoesncheese]

This was the best video I've seen about uncanny valley. I've always thought I was immune to the uncanny valley because life-like robots and machines invoke a "wow that's really cool" reaction in me instead of disgust or fear.
I love watching the Boston Dynamics robots dance around, for instance.
But I 100% get uneasy around human beings with incongruous facial expressions or actions.
Machines approaching human expression? Awesome.
Humans approaching robotic expression? Not so much. Ie, every time you showed Zuckerberg emulating emotion.