The Interactional Model

Scientists have argued for decades about the relative importance of nature (biological determinants) versus nurture (social learning and the environment) in shaping human development. Today it seems clear that gender identity is a product of both biological fac­tors and social learning. The evidence is simply too overwhelming to conclude that nor­mal infants are psychosexually neutral at birth. We have seen that human infants possess a complex and yet to be fully understood biological substrate that predisposes them to interact with their social environment in either a masculine or a feminine mode. However, few researchers believe that human gender identity has an exclusively biological basis. There is simply too much evidence supporting the important role of life experiences in shaping the way we think about ourselves—not only as masculine or feminine but in all aspects of how we relate to those around us. Consequently, most theorists and research­ers support an interactional model, which acknowledges both biology and experience in the development of gender identity (Dragowski et al., 2011; Looy & Bouma, 2005). Let us hope that as we acquire more data from further research, especially from long-term longitudinal analyses, we will gain a clearer understanding of the relative impact of these two powerful forces on gender-identity formation and gender-role behavior.