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Study suggests the “resting bitch face” is a real condition

Posted at 2:15 PM, Feb 08, 2016
and last updated 2016-02-08 14:15:03-05

LEESBURG, Virginia - Do you hate the world or just me? Is a bad smell following you around? Are we boring you or something? So, what's up with that face? It may be the resting bitch face or RBF as they call it. Y'all probably know someone, or perhaps it's you that's been called a lot of things just because of your sourpuss.

You might be having a great time at a party, but your face tells a different story. A while ago a funny video about this issue went viral. But now scientists are saying the RBF is a real thing.

"It's not conscious, it's not something that anyone is planning on doing, it's not real contempt", said Abbe Macbeth, PhD, managing consultant at Noldus, "but it's coming across as if it were." Macbeth explained that contempt should be understood as a blend of anger and sadness directed at those deemed below you.

Noldus Information Technology is a company dedicated to developing software for behavioral research. Their study suggest that RBF runs in families and there's a genetic component to it.

"People who have RBF have something in their neutral expression of their face that is relaying a more negative expression of contempt to both the software and to the human viewer", she expressed.

And we thought this condition only affected girls at night clubs or dudes too cool to smile.

"I would certainly say to people: don't stress it. That's your face. That's who you are", the researcher concluded.

So now you know: be yourself. But please, try your hardest not to be such a b… or an a-hole.