This is what doll phobia of any kind is called, not just those that are designed with the intention of causing it. When panic is produced mainly by articulated ones – such as robotic ones or those used by ventriloquists – then it is also called automatonophobia .
The main fear of pedophobes is that the toy has a life of its own and pretends to be an object, like the famous Chucky . This can give us a clue about the deep origin of this behavior. In his book The Sinister , Sigmund Freud recalled that what is halfway between the living and the dead , the animate and the inanimate, what feels and what does not, causes us uneasiness. That is to say: what seems to escape the absolute dichotomous classifications, established by our mind to maintain sanity. Therefore, the more realistic the doll is, the more terror it produces .
Another significant fact: porcelain models cause more concern than the rest. In this case, it also seems to have a component of thanatophobia, the fear of death . The pallor that this material gives is reminiscent of corpses.
