Given research findings that women have a strong tendency to describe the ideal man as androgynous, perhaps social interaction with an androgynous male could be seen as a social reward, whereas interaction with a masculine male may be less rewarding or aversive for women. A study was conducted to determine the functional properties of androgyny as a reinforcer of a behavioral response in a procedure analogous to instrumental conditioning. Ten situations were presented as items for discussion. Two prerecorded comments were constructed for each situation, one conveying stereotypic masculine responses and one conveying androgynous responses. Female college students (N=44) listened to the masculine speaker and pressed a switch to hear the androgynous speaker. In the continuous reinforcement condition, the androgynous speaker addressed all 10 situations. In the partial reinforcement condition, although subjects performed the instrumental response each time, the androgynous speaker only addressed five situations. Following completion of trials, subjects answered a post-conversation questionnaire. The results revealed that all subjects acquired the instrumental response and that performance among subjects in the partial reinforcement group was impaired relative to subjects in the continuous reinforcement group. The androgynous male was judged to be more likeable, intelligent, and moral than his masculine counterpart. (NB)