Fear Vs. Creepiness: The Uncanny Valley

Fear is something that most all humans have experienced at one point or another in their lives. This is a good thing; fear keeps us humans alive. Our primitive ancestors learned to fear what was threatening to them. A territorial black bear could be a tremendous threat to ill-equipped humans, so we learned to fear wild bears. Had we not developed this fear, we may have just walked unperturbed up to a black bear and proceeded to get mauled to death.

And yet, we still fear things that aren't inherently threatening. For example, this completely harmless doll. Or these normal people wearing masks. Or this person in a simple costume. None of these things pose a real threat to us, but we still feel at least some "fear". This kind of fear is creepiness.

So why do we feel creeped out by something that we know cannot harm us? The uncanny valley provides us with an answer. There is a valley, according to Masahiro Mori, between something that is trying to be like, and something that is. On the left side of the valley, you have something that is clearly not the thing it is trying to imitate. On the opposite end of the valley, you have something that successfully tricks the viewer into thinking that it is what it's trying to be like. And in the middle, you have both of those elements, which can create a disturbing or unsettling feeling--creepiness. You have something that is familiar, yet different; comfortable, yet off-putting; known, yet strange.

This is ambiguity: when you're not quite sure if something is a real threat or not. Take clowns, for instance. Some people are absolutely terrified of clowns, yet the vast majority of clown have no ill intentions. But you can sometimes get the feeling that they're not totally "normal", or there's something a bit off about them. Maybe it's because we really don't know who they are underneath all their makeup and silly costumes; we don't know if they're a threat or not. The facade they put up is one of a harmless clown, but... what are they really? Ambiguity creates creepiness when it comes to the human form.

Consider another example: human androids. I think the creepiness of the uncanny valley is wonderfully demonstrated by John Bergeron's singing android. It is easy to feel uneasy watching Tara the singing android sing in her weird synthetic voice, even though you know Tara is just a robot that poses no threat to you. The combination of Tara's form, movements, and voice make it a perfect example of the uncanny valley. We know Tara is trying to be human-like, but she just human-like enough without being completely convincing that she falls into the uncanny valley. Thus, we feel creeped out. Androids like Tara blur the line between what is familiar and safe, and what is potentially dangerous, something that we should genuinely fear. This is the uncanny valley.