Wrong outside, wrong inside: A social functionalist approach to the uncanny feeling

The “uncanny valley” hypothesis (Mori 1970/2005) states that a near-human looking entity can engender negative feelings in an observer. I analyze the phenomenology of the uncanny feeling, which is largely understudied despite being the dependent variable in empirical studies. Next, I introduce a social functionalist account to the uncanny valley research. I propose that the uncanny feeling is a social response triggered by the perception that something is ambiguously wrong with the “humanness” of the human-like stimuli, and therefore needs to be avoided. By doing so, the uncanny feeling functions as a “wrong outside, wrong inside” heuristic with central moral connotations. I conclude that rethinking the uncanny feeling as a social response helps to integrate controversial findings within the field.