This article was written as a tribute to Robin Winkler, who died on 26 November 1986 after a long illness. The aim of the paper is to highlight Robin's major achievements in his research activity and to point out the themes that run through his work. These themes include his emphasis on the just and humane treatment of the disadvantaged, the recognition of the social context in which psychological treatment and research is conducted, and the interrelations between psychology and economics. The changes that took place in the direction of his work thoughout his career are discussed. Robin's impact on psychology in Australia will continue to find expression through the influence he has had on his many friends and colleagues.

This paper was delivered by Dr R. Winkler as an Invited Address at the Australian Behaviour Modification Association Annual Conference, Sydney, 13 May 1986. The article is published in tribute to Robin Winkler with the normal editorial requirements concerning references and stylistic issues being waived.

The aim of the study was to determine if heart rate (HR) and skin conductance increase as a result of worrying and if the increase is greater in worriers than in non-worriers. Ten self-labelled worriers and 10 self-labelled non-worriers were individually interviewed, and a worrying event and a pleasant event were determined for each. The HR and skin resistance were then measured for all subjects when they were calm and quiet, when they imagined a worrying event, and when they imagined a pleasant event. There was no difference in the HR and skin conductance of worriers and non-worriers across the three conditions, namely, baseline, imagination of a worrying event and imagination of a pleasant event. Heart rate increased only as a result of worrying whereas the skin conductance increased both due to worrying and due to the imagination of the pleasant event. The results suggest that HR may be used as a measure of worrying.

Behaviour analysis and therapy is based on the investigation of functional relations between behaviour and its controlling variables. This article focuses on the description of the functional relation and methods used for its research. In particular it presents unpublished data to illustrate how the continuous measurement of independent variables aids the identification of functional relations, research into generalization (a major problem area in behaviour analysis and therapy) and the development of parametric analyses. The implications of comprehensive functional analyses are discussed.

Institutional responses to high rates of youth unemployment in Western industrialized nations have been marked by costly labour market programs, career education services and systems of skill formation. The success of these responses has not been easy to demonstrate, and such programs ignore the fact that in imperfect labour markets the essential activity that does seem to be strongly related to successful job acquisition for any individual is that of structured job finding. Job-finding clubs (which use behavioural techniques to develop high levels of skill in obtaining jobs) have been demonstrated, both in the United States and in Australia, to be capable of significantly increasing the rates of employment among participating club members. The effectiveness and utility of this behavioural approach is outlined.