Maestripieri et al. provide a valuable conceptual framework for understanding social biases associated with physical attractiveness. Although an adaptationist framework predicts positive social effects of physical attractiveness in some contexts, it also predicts negative social effects of attractiveness in other contexts. Moreover, there are important boundary conditions in how, when, and toward whom those biases are expressed. These patterns reflect the reproductive opportunities and threats posed by potential mates and rivals.

The biasing effects of attractiveness (Talamas et al. Reference Talamas, Mavor and Perrett2016) are consistent with humans' natural attention to beauty (Maner et al. Reference Maner, Gailliot, Rouby and Miller2007b; Mo et al. Reference Mo, Xia, Qin and Mo2016; Sui & Liu Reference Sui and Liu2009). This preference for good looks is shaped by natural selection and linked to the perception of the target's reproductive value (cf. “good genes theory”; Hamilton & Zuk Reference Hamilton and Zuk1992). People tend to react positively toward attractive members of the opposite sex, reflecting a heightened desire for social interaction (Lemay et al. Reference Lemay, Clark and Greenberg2010). In line with evolutionary principles, positive biases toward good-looking persons emerge because attractive people on average have high reproductive value and hence are desired as potential mates.

Consistent with sexual strategies theory (Buss & Schmitt Reference Buss and Schmitt1993), attractive faces of one's preferred sex are processed with a higher responsiveness in the reward circuitry of people's brains (Kranz & Ishai Reference Kranz and Ishai2006). Women and men elicit stronger neural responses when viewing faces of desirable mates (Cloutier et al. Reference Cloutier, Heatherton, Whalen and Kelley2008; Ishai Reference Ishai2007).

Reactions to attractive persons depend on their sex and one's sexual preference (Försterling et al. Reference Försterling, Preikschas and Agthe2007). Moreover, those reactions are consistent with the fundamental social motives framework, which posits that human motivational systems are functionally shaped to manage the relevant opportunities and threats afforded by social life (Kenrick et al. Reference Kenrick, Neuberg, Griskevicius, Becker and Schaller2010; Neel et al. Reference Neel, Kenrick, White and Neuberg2016). Adaptive mating-related biases (facilitating access to potential mates and avoiding potential rivals) may guide different reactions to attractive other-sex versus same-sex persons.

Indeed, physical attractiveness sometimes leads to negative, rather than positive, interpersonal judgments and outcomes. In the context of social relationships, people often perceive attractive same-sex persons as a threat to their self-esteem (Park & Maner Reference Park and Maner2009), mate value (Gutierres et al. Reference Gutierres, Kenrick and Partch1999), and partnership, as well as reproductive success (e.g., Buss et al. Reference Buss, Shackelford, Choe, Buunk and Dijkstra2000). The presence of intrasexual competition is linked to the activation of mate-guarding motives (Maner et al. Reference Maner, Miller, Rouby and Gailliot2009b; Reference Maner, Miller, Moss, Leo and Plant2012) and even occurs automatically and without awareness (Massar & Buunk Reference Massar and Buunk2010). As soon as people reach sexual maturity (Agthe et al. Reference Agthe, Spörrle, Frey, Walper and Maner2013), they tend to derogate (Schmitt & Buss Reference Schmitt and Buss1996; Vaillancourt Reference Vaillancourt2013) and avoid (e.g., Agthe et al. Reference Agthe, Spörrle and Försterling2008; Reference Agthe, Spöerrle and Maner2011; Luxen & van de Vijver Reference Luxen and van de Vijver2006) attractive same-sex persons. Accordingly, attractive female adolescents are at greater risk for indirect victimization (Leenaars et al. Reference Leenaars, Dane and Marini2008). Women are often surrounded by friends who are similar in attractiveness, and less attractive friends tend to perceive more mating rivalry (Bleske-Rechek & Lighthall Reference Bleske-Rechek and Lighthall2010). As women compete more on the dimension of physical attractiveness than men do (Dijkstra & Buunk Reference Dijkstra and Buunk2002), women are particularly intolerant of “sexy peers” (Vaillancourt & Sharma Reference Vaillancourt and Sharma2011).

Negative reactions toward attractive same-sex persons are displayed particularly by people who are likely to fear intrasexual competition: for example, people in their young adulthood (Agthe et al. Reference Agthe, Spörrle, Frey, Walper and Maner2013) who tend to be only moderately attractive themselves (Agthe et al. Reference Agthe, Spöerrle and Maner2010; Bleske-Rechek & Lighthall Reference Bleske-Rechek and Lighthall2010), have relatively low self-esteem (Agthe et al. Reference Agthe, Spöerrle and Maner2011) and high levels of chronic jealousy (Maner et al. Reference Maner, Miller, Rouby and Gailliot2009b), and tend to compare downward to avoid social comparison threat (Agthe et al. Reference Agthe, Spörrle, Frey and Maner2014). Concerns associated with self-esteem and social comparison reflect proximate manifestations of underlying adaptive mating-related motives.

Similarly, boundary conditions for advantageous attractiveness-based biases should be considered. For example, favorable reactions toward attractive opposite-sex targets are less likely when perceivers are involved in dating relationships (Simpson et al. Reference Simpson, Gangestad and Lerma1990). In a committed partnership, people sometimes ignore (Maner et al. Reference Maner, Rouby and Gonzaga2008; Reference Maner, Gailliot and Miller2009a) or devalue (Lydon et al. Reference Lydon, Fitzsimons and Naidoo2003) attractive alternatives. Conversely, attentional attunement to attractive women is pronounced in sexually unrestricted men (Maner et al. Reference Maner, Gailliot and DeWall2007a), and nonexclusive daters tend to judge attractive available targets more favorably than unavailable ones (Bazzini & Shaffer Reference Bazzini and Shaffer1999). When women are in the fertile phase of their menstrual cycle, they respond more positively toward attractive men (Haselton et al. Reference Haselton, Mortezaie, Pillsworth, Bleske-Recheck and Frederick2007), while displaying negative and competitive reactions toward attractive women (Fisher Reference Fisher2004). In addition, attractiveness-based biases emerge almost exclusively toward targets of the evaluator's own ethnic background (Agthe et al., Reference Agthe, Strobel, Spörrle, Pfundmair and Maner2016). Culture, family expectations, kinship rules, and the extent of individual choice that is allowed in personal relationships may also affect attractiveness-based biases (Anderson et al. Reference Anderson, Adams and Plaut2008; Yu & Shepard Reference Yu and Shepard1998).

In sum, prior findings are consistent with the notion that mating-related motives play a role in people's reactions to good-looking persons and point to neural and evolutionary underpinnings of attractiveness-based biases. Physical attractiveness can produce both positive and negative social biases that vary with features of the perceiver (e.g., mood, hormonal influences), the target person (e.g., age, status), and the social context. Such biases reflect fundamental affordances associated with mating and involve motivational systems linked to seeking mates and competing with intrasexual rivals.