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Have you seen the "resting bitch face" (RBF)? This expression became rather high currency in 2013. Many people have actually boasted that their faces exhibit the RBF. It translates into showing a neutral face giving a "standoffish expression", according to the Daily Mail.

In order to explain the harshness of that passive gaze, the Noldus Information Technology has put out the Noldus FaceReader to analyse the expression on the face.

This exclusive software uses 10,000 images and hones in on particular emotional expressions. The RBF showed high levels of "unconscious, subtle contempt." These cues are easily picked up by our brains, which makes us take note of the RBF immediately.

"FaceReader is not detecting enough contempt to reflect true contempt because these faces are not actually displaying contempt," the report reads. "It just looks like contempt to the viewer. Thus, it is the perception of that unconscious, subtle contempt expression that defines RBF."

What are the constituents of "unconscious, subtle contempt"? They may include "one side of the lip slightly receding, slight eye squinting, and a bit of a raising of the corners of the lips", says The Independent  reported.

Abbe Macbeth, who was part of the team, claimed that this is not just a female phenomenon, but is common to both genders, says New York Magazine.

"That [smiling] is something that's expected from women far more than it's expected from men, and there's a lot of anecdotal articles and scientific literature on that," she said. "So RBF isn't necessarily something that occurs more in women, but we're more attuned to notice it in women because women have more pressure on them to be happy and smiley and to get along with others."

The study was published in the Oct. 14, 2015, issue of Noldus.