I believe there has been some research on facial expressions of contempt, although it isn't as popular (or as easy to study) as say, happiness, anger, or fear. In particular, Dr. Jessica Tracy's lab is a great resource for studying emotional facial recognition.
Here are some references:
Tracy, Robins, Schriber (2009)
-Good article about FACS, including contempt*
Tracy and Robins (2007) and Mignault and Chaudhuri (2011)
-These articles discuss contempt in relation to hubristic pride and/or superiority
Keltner (1996)
Widen, Christy, Hewett, & Russell (2011)
* See their note about difficulties creating contempt facial expressions that could be recognized above chance:
"We were not able to develop expressions of contempt that generated
above-chance levels of recognition in either study (highest recognition
rates # 25%, 24%, 23%, and 21% for the four expressers). Consequently,
we excluded contempt from the stimulus set. Several researchers have
argued that contempt does not have a distinct, recognizable expression
Paul Ekman tiene algunos artículos sobre el disgusto (contempt), por ejemplo:
- Ekman, P. & Friesen,(1986). A new pan-cultural facial expression of emotion. Motivation and Emotion, 10, 2, 159-168.
Por otro lado, considero interesante la postura que adopta Susana Bloch respecto de la emociones. Según sus estudios cada emoción tiene tres componentes expresivos básicos: la expresión facial, la postura corporal y el ritmo respiratorio. A partir de ello indica que habrían sólo seis emociones básicas: rabia, tristeza, miedo, alegría, ternura y erotismo. Estas seis emociones básicas y sus componentes se mezclan para generar 'emociones mixtas'. Quizás al considerar el disgusto (contempt) como una emoción mixta se facilite su investigación. Te recomiendo algunos artículos de S. Bloch y su método de estudio de las emociones llamado 'Alba Emoting':
- Bloch, S. (1991) . Specific respiratory patterns distinguish among human basic emotions. International Journal of Psychophysiology, 11, 141-15
- Bloch, S. (2006). The alba of emotions: Managing emotions through breathing. Santiago, Chile: Ediciones Ultramarinos.