University alumna Abbe Macbeth, Ph.D. is investigating a phenomenon known to plague unhappy-looking notables such as Kristen Stewart and Queen Elizabeth II — “resting bitch face,” or RBF.
Macbeth, a 2001 College graduate, works with Jason Rogers, Ph.D. at Noldus Information Technology, where the two used FaceReader technology to analyze how faces in a neutral state showed various emotions such as happiness, sadness, anger and contempt.
They ran the faces of those believed to have RBF against neutral faces, and found those individuals showed higher levels of contempt than the control.
FaceReader technology works by identifying over 500 points on the face and comparing them frame-by-frame to an internal neural network of coded images previously coded to correspond to various emotional expressions, Macbeth said.
Macbeth said Rogers originally came up with the unique usage of FaceReader. The technology has existed for around 10 years and has been primarily used for both academic and market research by measuring people’s emotional reactions to interactions or advertisements.
The study gives some scientific backing to a cultural phenomenon which has become a popular topic of conversation, primarily on the Internet.
Fourth-year College student Elsie Gaw said although the study may show faces with RBF show a spike in contempt, she doesn’t think it means their personality matches up.
“If I’m just sitting at a desk like this, and I look like I have resting bitch face, it doesn’t mean I actually feel contempt,” Gaw said.
While the research can only show which emotions a person shows, not what they actually feel, “it is the perception of that unconscious, subtle contempt expression that defines RBF,” Rogers and Macbeth wrote in a blog post for Neldus.
“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,” the blog post said.
Macbeth said RBF is usually associated with women because society often expects them to take the role of peacekeepers and get along with everyone.
“It comes from both men and women, like, ‘Wow she looks really bitchy today,’ and you don’t see that being told to men,” Macbeth said. “Men aren’t told to be nicer in the way that women are, so I think culturally we see this more in women.”
Nevertheless, Macbeth said the software is gender neutral.
“[The software] doesn’t care if you are a man or a woman, so if you have that facial structure, it’s going to pick up on it no matter whether you’re male or female,” she said.
Macbeth said RBF may vary among different cultures as well.
“I think in our culture people are maybe a little bit more expressive than they might be in others, so there may be some cultural differences here as well,” Macbeth said.
For example, Eastern European women who may not emote as much may be judged as having RBF, but Macbeth said the software might reveal they are equally as likely to emote contempt as other people.
Macbeth said people can submit their photos on the Noldus website to determine if they show RBF.
Second-year College student Priya Adhikary said she would possibly send in her picture for analysis.
"After several years of being told that I have RBF, I have no doubt that RBF is an actual thing,” Adhikary said. “I would be willing to send in a photo to see if I have it.”
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