  Artificial objects often subjectively look eerie when their appearance to
some extent resembles a human, which is known as the uncanny valley phenomenon.
From a cognitive psychology perspective, several explanations of the phenomenon
have been put forth, two of which are object categorization and realism
inconsistency. Recently, MacDorman and Chattopadhyay (2016) reported
experimental data as evidence in support of the latter. In our estimation,
however, their results are still consistent with categorization-based stranger
avoidance. In this Discussions paper, we try to describe why
categorization-based stranger avoidance remains a viable explanation, despite
the evidence of MacDorman and Chattopadhyay, and how it offers a more inclusive
explanation of the impression of eeriness in the uncanny valley phenomenon.
