Or as we call it, "positive reinforcement"
Lets call a spade a spade. We all do it in our own ways. Sticker charts, mystery boxes, and random surprises are all prime examples of "positive reinforcement," otherwise known as bribery. They do something you want them to do, you give them something that makes them feel good and want to do it again. With our strong willed child, it's what works.
My daughter was getting special candy every time she would do number 2 on the potty. "It motivates her," my husband would say. So like Pavlov's dogs, my child would ask for a candy after she would go to the bathroom. One night my husband and I sat on the couch after a long day and started talking about when we should start eliminating the candy and have her continue going to the bathroom just because that's what people do.
After discussing it with my husband, he laughed and said, "Imagine if we never stopped?"
And so I did:
We are still giving her the candy at the moment. As much as I'd love laughing in the psychiatrist's office when shes thirty hearing her talk about her chocolate addiction, I think maybe we'll wean her off. Eventually.