Our sexy brain; our compelling environment: interactionism in female development.

The infant female is unique. Her particular qualities include specific genetic, hormonal, and physiological ingredients that help sculpt her development. Parental influences and the wider society and culture have a profound shaping effect on her particular biological components. Whereas male infants have their own inimitable developmental line, this paper’s focus is on the female. Our recent history of knowledge about infant development has been schismatically driven, a rift I briefly address herein. This paper is essentially a theoretical one wherein I offer an integration of our current understanding of the complex interactive role of biology and environment in shaping the trajectory of female development. I detail some of the female infants’ distinctive features and their mothers’ responses to them.