MENTAL MODEL · M1969

Uncanny Valley

CultureHigh supportAesthetics

Included

Version 1.0.0 · Updated 2026-07-30

CORE DEFINITION

When the appearance of a robot or CG character becomes more and more human-like, the level of affinity increases; but when it is 'very human-like but slightly off' (such as stiff expressions), the affinity suddenly drops to the bottom, causing strong aversion and fear in humans.

SCAFFOLDING EFFECT

psychology

Reduce cognitive load

Anthropomorphic red line. When designing AI or virtual humans, either make them cartoonish (low realism) or achieve perfect realism. Never get stuck in the middle of the uncanny valley, which is the death zone for products.

anchor

Anchor fast decisions

Uncanny Valley: When the similarity of an artificial object (robot, CG face) to a human approaches but is not perfect, the affinity drops sharply into a 'valley'; only when it is sufficiently realistic does it rise again, due to the dissonance of perceptual expectations.

MINIMUM ACTION

In progress 0/4

Practice this model in one real situation:

Assess the degree of human-likeness and points of dissonance
Either make it clearly non-human (cute/symbolic) or sufficiently realistic
Identify the triggers of the valley (eye contact/micro-expressions)
Design accordingly to avoid the valley.

Check to track your progress (stored locally)

Learning progress0%

account_treeGenealogyexpand_more

menu_bookReferencesexpand_more

Source support: Explicit

link
zh.wikipedia.orghttps://zh.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E6%81%90%E6%80%96%E8%B0%B7ZH · Explicit
verified