The Uncanny Valley
Hyperrealistic robots that look almost human but make cold, emotionless decisions. Glass-eyed dolls that look like children from afar. Clowns with painted smiles lurking in dark corners. A pleasant mechanical voice making a chilling threat. It’s the stuff horror and science fiction films are made of. And it’s a similar underlying concept that causes everyday frustration — for example, when a chatbot seems cheerful and friendly while giving us the same unhelpful information again and again. It’s the same principle that makes us cringe when we see a brand clearly trying very hard to use what it considers ‘Gen-Z language’—and failing to connect with its audiences. All of these experiences can be explained by means of a concept called the Uncanny Valley.
What is the Uncanny Valley?
The Uncanny Valley is a concept that explains why something feels disconcerting, creepy, or even just cringe-worthy when it’s trying very hard to appear a certain way. The concept was first introduced in 1970, by the Japanese robotics scholar Masahiro Mori. Mori coined the Japanese term ‘bukimi no tani genshō’ which roughly translates as ‘Valley of Eeriness’, and was eventually translated into English as ‘Uncanny Valley’ in 1978 by Jasia Reichardt. The Uncanny Valley concept makes use of two variables: 1) how similar an object is to a human being, and 2) how much affinity we feel towards this object. According to Mori, the more human-like something seems, the more we feel a sense of affinity for it — that is, until a certain critical point. At this point, the object seems ‘too human’ even though we know it’s definitely not human, and our affinity for the object drops sharply, into this ‘Valley of Eeriness’. It’s only when the object is genuinely and convincingly human that we are able to feel a sense of affinity for it again. Hyperrealistic robots and chatbots that try to be overly friendly often fall into this Uncanny Valley, making us feel a sense of revulsion or frustration towards them.
The Uncanny Valley and your communication strategy
The Uncanny Valley is about uncertainty. “Is it real?” we ask ourselves, “and if it’s not real, can we trust it?” We hesitate because we aren’t sure whether something is a friend or foe, whether it’s there to help us or to make life more difficult. As a result, we avoid it or shut down. If we want to prevent our audiences from feeling this way, we need to build knowledge about the Uncanny Valley into all our content initiatives. When creating a brand story, for example, we need to make sure that the narrators’ voices are realistic and that they don’t sound overly scripted or fake. If we’re using a certain kind of language to appeal to a particular demographic, we need to use it the way it would be used in real life, not simply pepper our copy with words and phrases that we think are representative of that demographic. And when it comes to writing for chatbots or UX environments, we need to be cautious that we don’t over-humanise a chatbot, which will only lead to customer frustration and dissatisfaction.
