SHORTCOMINGS OF THE BEHAVIORAL COMPETITION THEORY OF CONTRAST - REANALYSIS OF MCLEAN (1992)

McLean (1992) presented significant data showing that the occurrence o f behavioral contrast in a multiple schedule was correlated with shift s in the frequency of reinforcers from a second source between compone nts of the schedule, and interpreted his results as showing that contr ast was due to changes in the degree of response competition within th e constant component of the multiple schedule. Reanalysis of his data shows that there was an effect of reinforcement in the alternative com ponent of the schedule independent of the shifts in reinforcers betwee n components. Thus, the effect of relative rate of reinforcement canno t be ascribed, at least entirely, to the mechanisms proposed by the be havioral competition theory of contrast.