'Resting b*tch face' knows no gender – from Kanye West to Queen Elizabeth, this expression marks the people around the world whose neutral face says, ‘I am not amused.’

To explain why certain passive gazes seem so harsh, a team of researchers partnered with Noldus Information Technology, employing a facial expression recognition tool to analyze the many different emotions of the face.

The software revealed that 'resting b*tch face' is characterized by higher levels of ‘unconscious, subtle contempt,’ and while it may not be intentional, your brain is wired to pick up on it.

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Resting B*tch Face knows no gender – from Kanye West to Queen Elizabeth, this expression marks the people around the world whose neutral face says, ‘I am not amused.’ A team of behavioural researchers partnered with Noldus Information Technology, employing a facial expression recognition tool

WE SEE CONTEMPT IN RBF GAZES FaceReader scans revealed that all of these faces were linked to a spike in the software’s perceived contempt, which it detects using certain subtle signals The results showed contempt across the board, for Kanye, Queen Elizabeth, and Kristen Stewart, indicating that RBF applies to all genders. While the software read the expressions as contemptuous, the researchers explain that the face isn’t truly showing this emotion – that’s just how we perceive it. So, Kanye not exactly be showing contempt, but his resting face isn’t completely neutral either. Advertisement

Since 'resting b*tch face' (RBF) became popular in 2013, both celebrities and regular citizens of the world have claimed to wear this standoffish expression, and Kristen Stewart has widely been crowned the RBF poster girl.

Behavioural researchers Jason Rogers and Abbe Macbeth sought to understand why we perceive some expressions as totally neutral, while others make us uneasy, The Washington Post writes.

So, they turned to Noldus’s FaceReader.

The Noldus FaceReader technology is trained with more than 10,000 images to identify specific emotional expressions.

The team discusses the findings in a report published online this past October: Throwing Shade: The Science of Resting 'B*tch' Face.

Since Resting B*tch Face (RBF) became popular in 2013, both celebrities and regular citizens of the world have claimed to wear this standoffish expression, and Kristen Stewart has widely been crowned the RBF poster girl

Using photographs or live images, the software can read more than 500 points on the face to detect basic emotions, including happy, angry, sad, scared, surprised, disgusted, neutral, and contempt.

The team established a control group of passive faces, which the software read as having roughly 97 percent neutrality.

In the remaining three percent were subtle hints of other emotions.

Then, they analysed the neutral faces of nutritious RBF celebrities.

Using photographs or live images, the software can read more than 500 points on the face to detect basic emotions, including happy, angry, sad, scared, surprised, disgusted, neutral, and contempt. The team established a control group of passive faces, which the software read as having roughly 97 percent neutrality

Then, they analysed the neutral faces of nutritious RBF celebrities. The results showed contempt across the board, for Kanye, Queen Elizabeth, and Kristen Stewart, indicating that RBF applies to all genders

FaceReader scans revealed that all of these faces were linked to a spike in the software’s perceived contempt, which it detects using certain subtle signals, like ‘one side of the lip pulled back slightly, the eyes squinting a little,’ Rogers told The Washington Post.

‘It’s kind of a tightening around the eyes, and a little bit of raising of the corners of the lips – but not into a smile,’ Macbeth told The Washington Post.

The results showed contempt across the board, for Kanye, Queen Elizabeth, and Kristen Stewart, indicating that RBF applies to all genders.

Internet users have widely accused both Queen Elizabeth and Victoria Beckham of RBF. The software read RBF expressions as contemptuous, the face isn’t truly showing this emotion – that’s just how we perceive it. The expression may not exactly be showing contempt, but isn’t completely neutral either

While the software read the expressions as contemptuous, the researchers explain that the face isn’t truly showing this emotion – that’s just how we perceive it.

‘FaceReader is not detecting enough contempt to reflect true contempt, because these faces are not actually displaying contempt. It just looks like contempt to the viewer,’ the authors write.

‘Thus, it is the perception of that unconscious, subtle contempt expression that defines RBF. Although that face may not be intentional, the viewer’s brain is wired to analyze, and recognize, when a face is displaying even minute traces of contempt.

‘Because contempt is based upon elements of comparison and judgment, viewing this in someone’s face creates a feeling of uneasiness, or uncomfortableness, for the person viewing that face.’

So, Kanye not exactly be showing contempt, but his resting face isn’t completely neutral either.

The researchers also tested personal examples, plugging in a photo of author Abbe Macbeth.

For those curious about their own RBF faces, the researchers are inviting members of the public to submit photos of their neutral expressions via email, so the FaceReader can determine if you’re throwing shade without even trying.