30 Funny Pictures Of "Random Pareidolia," Where Your Brain Thinks It Sees Faces In Inanimate Objects
Apparently, everyone sees faces in random objects.
I think it’s innate human nature to form a pack bond with anything. Part of that seems to stem from our ability to imagine faces or other human-like characteristics where they don’t actually exist.
Take, for example, the front bumper of a car. The fender would be its mouth, the headlights its eyes, and maybe a hood ornament for a nose.
I recently learned there’s an actual name for the psychological phenomenon of seeing faces or other meaningful imagery in random places or patterns: pareidolia. In layman's terms, it’s our brain's way of seeing or creating a new image out of randomness, which is usually simplified to people seeing faces in objects where there isn't one. As Dr. Paul Bloom, a psychology professor at paulbloom.net, states, "Our brains are wired to find patterns, especially faces, even where none exist."
Pareidolia comes from the Greek words pará, meaning beside, alongside, or instead of, and eídōlon, meaning image, form, or shape. Pareidolia is a type of apophenia, which is a term describing the tendency to perceive a connection or meaningful pattern between unrelated or random things. According to Dr. Barry Schwartz, a choice researcher at barryschwartz.org, "This phenomenon highlights our intrinsic desire to make sense of the world around us."
This fun bit of information was inspired by the insights shared by experts in the field. Continue scrolling to view thirty of our favorite amusing examples of pareidolia that we collected from various sources. ```
1. Grouchy Typewriter
@RandomFace__2. Whatever it is, it looks happy
@RandomFace__3. Canned choir
@RandomFace__
4. The horrors they've witnessed
@RandomFace__
5. MFW someone doesn't wash their hands in a public restroom
@RandomFace__
6. Wanda and Cosmo ain't slick!
@RandomFace__
We're on to you, fairies
giphy
7. An onion ready to make you cry
@RandomFace__
Soon
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8. I feel the same about laundry
@RandomFace__
9. I've never felt so similar to a chair
@RandomFace__
Everything is just ugh
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10. How people made do before FaceTime
@RandomFace__
11. Happiest side table
@RandomFace__
It's just happy to be useful
giphy
12. One looks surprised, the other suspicious
@RandomFace__
13. Who is she?
@RandomFace__
Who??
giphy
14. Happy birb face
@RandomFace__
15. Not sure what the fixture is, but it's cringing
@RandomFace__
Identical expression
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16. When home is just as happy to see you
@RandomFace__
Home sweet home
giphy
17. Forget the sorting hat, we got a discerning traffic cone
@RandomFace__
18. Giving Homestar Runner vibes
@RandomFace__
I can do it! I can do it 9 times!
19. A shocking home by the sea
@RandomFace__
20. Happy face even if they aren't facing towards you
@RandomFace__
21. Flower skull
@RandomFace__
22. Disapproving traffic sign
@RandomFace__
23. Hummingbird orchid
@RandomFace__
24. Scared peppers
@RandomFace__
25. Flirty dessert
@RandomFace__
*winkwink*
giphy
26. Angry mop giving us Cad Bane looks
@RandomFace__
The similarities are uncanny, to be honest.
giphy
27. Holy bruise
@RandomFace__
28. Shifty-looking warehouse
@RandomFace__
Same vibes
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29. Mildly horrifying
@RandomFace__
30. Skeletal oven
@RandomFace__
One of my favorite aspects of pareidolia is that it’s a well-established experience throughout history. There are famous occurrences, such as in 1977 with the perceived image of Jesus Christ on a flour tortilla, or in 2004 with another perceived image of Jesus Christ, this time on a grilled cheese.
Remarkably, pareidolia has been documented as far back as the 1600s, when Leonardo da Vinci wrote in A Treatise on Painting, describing pareidolia as an artistic device:
“Look at walls splashed with a number of stains or stones of various mixed colors. If you have to invent some scenes, you can see there resemblances to a number of landscapes adorned with mountains, rivers, rocks, trees, great plains, valleys, and hills in various ways. Also, you can see various battles and lively postures of strange figures, expressions on faces, costumes, and an infinite number of things, which you can reduce to good integrated form.”What’s your favorite instance of pareidolia that you’ve experienced? Let us know in the comments section below!
