in your example of cupcakes they actually talked about noticing how you felt and the reason why they gave you the cupcake.

But that's... what she's doing! That's what the m&m's are for!

Pavlovian conditioning doesn't just happen in a lab, dude. When your phone buzzes and you get that pang of excitement that someone may have just messaged you, that's conditioning! Your phone has nefariously manipulated you into being excited at random times, at its sole discretion, and for what might be, like, a pizza ad or something.