The Science Behind TikTok's 'Uncanny Valley' Makeup Trend

The latest TikTok trend is incredibly unnerving, but here’s why people find it so fascinating.

Transcript

00:00 The latest TikTok trend is incredibly unnerving, but here's why people find it so fascinating.

00:10 If you've seen these creepy faces cursing your TikTok For You page, you're not alone.

00:15 The unnerving makeup is part of a new trend called the Uncanny Valley trend, and its origins

00:21 are pretty interesting.

00:22 Uncanny Valley is a term used to describe faces that look almost human, but there is

00:28 definitely something off about them.

00:30 The term was first used by a professor at the Tokyo Institute of Technology, Masahiro

00:35 Mori, in the 1970s.

00:37 Mori believed that robots can only be made to look like humans to a certain degree, and

00:43 after a line is crossed and the robot becomes too close for comfort, we get uncomfortable.

00:48 Mori even made a graph depicting where this thin line lies and when it's crossed.

00:54 Mori shared an example of Uncanny Valley in an interview with IEEE Spectrum, sharing,

01:00 "Since I was a child, I have never liked looking at wax figures.

01:05 They looked somewhat creepy to me.

01:06 At that time, electronic prosthetic hands were being developed, and they triggered me

01:10 in the same kind of sensation.

01:12 These experiences had made me start thinking about robots in general, which led me to write

01:17 that essay.

01:18 The Uncanny Valley was my intuition.

01:21 It was one of my ideas."

01:22 Now, Mori's 50-year-old concept is making waves in the TikTok makeup world.

01:28 Enthralled by the haunting look, beauty makeup influencers and more have been trying it out.

01:33 This TikToker even made an Uncanny Valley filter based off of the makeup looks.

01:38 "There's something off that definitely causes our comfort level to drop into a valley

01:42 of unease.

01:43 Thus, the Uncanny Valley effect.

01:44 If you've ever watched the Polar Express, you may have experienced this feeling.

01:47 The characters look human, but there's something off and eerie about them.

01:50 Let me know if you've experienced the Uncanny Valley effect, and if you haven't, you definitely

01:54 will after trying this filter on."

01:56 Whether you're brave enough to try the Uncanny Valley trend or not, it's no doubt these

02:00 videos are bringing spooky season well past October.