As a fundamental process underlying how individuals learn affective value, Pavlovian learning has been used to account for the emergence of individual differences in behavior and cognition. In affective sciences, early investigations into Pavlovian learning have often relied on aversive stimuli; more recently, the field has broadened its focus on positive emotions and reward. Individual differences in Pavlovian learning involving rewards could represent a translational and transdiagnostic model for compulsive reward-seeking behavior. Specific learning phenotypes have been linked in humans to distinct behavioral profiles — known as sign-tracking and goal-tracking — shown to convey differential vulnerability to compulsive reward-seeking behavior in animals. Such findings underline the explanatory potential of Pavlovian learning for the development of individual differences in a variety of affective phenomena.