The name seems wrong: Pavlov is famous for the development of classical conditioning; that is, you train one stimulus to trigger another. As far as I know, classical conditioning is about involuntary behaviours.<p>Instead, the startup seems to follow the old law of effect from Thorndike: "Behaviours associated with pleasure and comfort are more likely to be repeated, whereas those associated with displeasure are less likely to be repeated".<p>Combining extrinsic motivation and punishment doesn't seem a winning strategy.<p>"Pink warns against contingent or 'if-then' rewards: if you perform, then you get paid, or if you do your homework, then you get cake. He shows how contingent rewards lead to a very short-term motivation, a higher likelyhood of unethical or risky behaviour (cheating), and poorer performance. Therefore, he recommends that extrinsic rewards be given only after the fact as a bonus, not as a carrot." – Dorian Peters, Interface Design<p>My guess is that the Pavlok would help for short term accomplishments, but it's not going "to create the conditions for people to motivate themselves (Edward Deci)".<p>I'm not an expert; It would be interesting to read an actual psychologist's take on the Pavlok product.