hey Vsauce Michael here fear gives us
life being afraid of the right things
kept our ancestors alive it makes sense
to be afraid of poisonous insects or
hungry Tigers but what about fear when
there is no clear and obvious danger for
instance a teddy bear with a full set of
human teeth or a smile dot jpg there's
something a little off about these
images too much mystery and strangeness
but no obvious threat the way there is
with a gun or a falling rock but yet
they still incite fear because they are
creepy but why what gives us the creeps
what causes something to be creepy we
are now in my bedroom the bedroom I grew
up in in Kansas like a lot of children
my age I was terrified of scary stories
to tell in the dark but the very first
book that ever scared me was the curse
of the squirrel to this day I still
haven't finished the book but that's
just me psychologist James gear
developed the fear survey scheduled to
which he used to find out what scared us
the most combined with the results of a
more recent Gallup poll these are the
things that scare most of us the most
all of these things are scary but are
they creepy let's get more specific I
love the way Stephen King delineate
three types of scary stuff the first is
the gross out this is something
disgusting morbid disease
the second is horror horror - King is
the unnatural a giant spider or being
grabbed in the dark when you thought you
were alone the third terror is different
creepier
he says terror is coming home to find
that everything that you own has been
replaced with an exact copy terror is
feeling something behind you its breath
on your neck knowing that you will be
grabbed
but then turning around to find that
there was never anything there in the
first place not a lot of research has
been done on that feeling the creeps
but many theories and ideas involve
vagueness ambiguity for instance masks
and why clowns are creepy claude
lévi-strauss wrote that the facial
disguise temporarily eliminates from
social intercourse the part of the body
which reveals personal feelings and
attitudes part of the reason even a
neutral or happy mask can be creepy may
have to do with ambiguity a mask hides
the true emotions and intentions of the
person underneath I don't know if the
person wearing that mask is a threat or
not vagueness is creepy when it comes to
the human form this is the famous
uncanny valley on a chart of humaneness
there's a zone where something can be
almost entirely human but off by just a
little not so wrong that it's clearly
fake or funny or so good that it's
indistinguishable instead it's just
troubling the creepiness of the uncanny
valley is wonderfully demonstrated by
John Bergeron's singing Androids watch
these videos when you're alone
a similar uneasy feeling comes from Shay
st. John a character created by Eric
Fournier funny - some nightmare fuel to
others uncanny humanoids like all creepy
things straddle a line between two
regions that we can understand and
explain with language Francis T McAndrew
and sera congi described being creeped
out as an adaptive human response to the
ambiguity of threats from others creepy
things are kind of a threat maybe but
they're also kind of not so our brains
don't know what to do some parts respond
with fear while other parts don't and
they don't know why so instead of
achieving a typical fear response horror
we simply feel uneasy terror creeped out
between the mountains of safety and
danger there is a valley of creepiness
where the limits of our knowledge and
Trust and security aren't very clear
will looking at this cause you to die
one week later impossible right
maybe that's the terror of ambiguity we
don't do well with ambiguity when it
involves our own intentions it can make
us lie and when it involves danger but
no recognizable threat it can make us
think and feel some pretty weird things
have you ever peered over a ledge a
railing way high up like so high up it
made you nervous and dizzy and felt
something pushing you maybe even an urge
to jump have you ever stood on a ledge
with a loved one and realized that you
could push them it would be that easy
you really could do it and maybe you do
want to do it or maybe it's just
cognitive dissonance the fact that your
brain is having to deal with ambiguity a
recent study by Jennifer Haines at
Florida State University dubbed this the
high place phenomenon when approaching a
ledge and a dangerous drop your survival
instinct kicks in and you pull yourself
away but your balance and motor systems
don't get it
nothing is pushing you and you don't
normally fall or leap randomly so what's
going on the part of your brain that
processes in tension might resolve this
by determining that something must be
pushing you or that you might actually
want to jump or push your friend even if
none of that is true now we're not done
with ambiguity yet because our language
reflects the gray area of terror and
creepiness take a look at the word
terror itself we have horrible and
horrific terrible and terrific why is
that well through history we never
really figured out what to call powerful
experiences because they're both they
are full of awe awesome and they are
full of awe awful we need them to
survive we need fears and the creeps to
understand our size our weaknesses but
on the other hand avoiding them is
pretty great too the creeps is a
physical reminder that the world is
vague and full of ambiguity but that we
are cunning always trying to figure
things out but nonetheless fragile is
that terrible or terrific well it's both
which as a creepy ghost would say
is kind of boom and as always thanks for
watching
[Music]