The Uncanny Valley Phenomenon

Throughout evolution, humans’ minds have been conditioned to fear things that may seem strange. Have you ever seen a photo of someone and… they look off, just slightly unfamiliar? When you saw that photo, did you feel nervous? Afraid? Disgusted? Have you ever wondered why you get that feeling? What could have made humans evolve to have such a strange reaction?

Many fears stick with us throughout life. Usually, the fears can result in strange reactions such as the urge to avoid something that looks squishy and rotting, the strange illusions of closing walls from claustrophobia and the feeling of falling while looking over a particularly high ledge. These fears likely seem reasonable as our mind and body’s way of protecting us from disease, injury and death.

But what about the fears that seem less rational?

What do you feel when you look at this picture? It wouldn’t be surprising if you felt disgusted or scared. It has all the normal features of a human, but what makes it creepy? Are the eyes too small or too big? The lips too thin and the mouth too wide? The forehead too big and the nose too small? With everything so obviously meant to resemble a human, it is impossible not to notice that all the aspects of the face seem out of place and weirdly proportioned. Something is too small while another is too big, something to too spaced out while another is too close. And with those strange features, it can also be impossible to ignore the strange uncomfortable feeling that creeps up the long you look at the entity.

The uncanny valley is a phenomenon that happens when something, whether that’s a toy or even an animal, gets to a point of looking too close to a human where instead of finding the object cute or generally normal, you would find the object creepy and uncomfortable.

The uncanny valley theories are theories that try to uncover why this happens. One theory is the predator theory, where it is believed that thousands of years ago, humans developed the caution and fear of creatures that look similar to human in order to protect themselves from potential attacks. Another theory is the pathogen theory, as most of the robots, dolls and creatures that are seen which elicit the phenomenon look sick or close to death; the theory is that human’s biological reaction to avoid sick and dying organisms will cause the reaction to the strange humanoid creatures. One more theory is the mate selection theory; somewhat aligning with aspects of the pathogen theory, the mate selection theory says that because of a human’s biological desire to find a healthy, able-bodied person to procreate with, thus avoiding anyone that looks sick or undesirable.

Of all these interesting theories, which is the most probable? In her article “Uncanny Valley: Examples, Effects, and Theory” (2023), Ayesh Perera, Harvard graduate and researcher in psychology and neuroscience, theorizes that the uncanny valley could be triggered by a human evolved mechanism which aided early humans in avoided sources of pathogens. The objects that insight the effects of the uncanny valley may resemble humans with defects or traits of sickness, thus causing the aversion that one would to a sick or dying humanoid.

Although the pathogen theory is convincing, the predator theory seems like a better contender to elicit the fear response of the uncanny valley. The idea that humans needed to evolve the fear of creatures that look humanoid in order to survive thousands of years ago does not feel too far-fetched. Animals in nature naturally evolve to avoid certain colors, shapes, scents and other creatures (or the features that which they possess). The predator which mimicked humanity would likely have had similar features to what elicits the uncanny valley phenomenon today accompanied with strange movements and sounds, in turn allowing humans to evolve sensitivities to those exact features. The predator theory can be perceived as a more eerie or frightening theory when you take into account that, unlike the pathogen theory where the reaction is caused by viewing another human, the reaction was made as an alarm system for something that is actively trying to hurt you. The idea that humans, at one point, were not the top predators and instead of us hunting everything else we were the ones being hunted; and additionally that this went on for so long for such an extent that we had to evolve the ability to detect and fear what was preying on us, its reasonable to feel haunted at how terrifying such creature had to be in order to accomplish this.

The uncanny valley is a strange phenomenon, and it wouldn’t be surprising if you have felt strange feelings of fear before while watching a cartoon, playing a video game, or observing the world’s latest additions of humanoid robots. Even though there are no concrete reasons for why the strange reaction occurs, some theories may give comforting, or terrifying, explanations as to why the uncanny valley formed.