The article is entirely based on Fogg's behavior model. Your criticism isn't really addressing the article, it's addressing the model used. As for pain avoidance, that seems to be a part of the factor Motivation, which is divided into the sub-factors Sensation, Anticipation and Social Cohesion. I've found a number of sites explaining the model and they all have something like this to say about Sensation:

> Searching to experience pleasure or avoiding pain. These strong motivators are thought to be a primitive and immediate response to information.

I can't find an official source for it, so I have to assume it's in Fogg's book. But it seems pain avoidance is something that is addressed by the model.

Some relevant links:

https://blog.crobox.com/article/fogg-behavior-model

https://www.buzzstream.com/blog/the-psychology-of-behavior-c...

https://mariashriver.com/stanford-researcher-bj-fogg-on-the-...

https://lifehacker.com/how-to-stop-procrastinating-with-beha...

As for Fogg, he seems to be a research associate at Stanford and founded the Behavior Design Lab. How much weight that carries, no idea.

https://behaviordesign.stanford.edu/

edit: I think I found the paper where FBM is from

http://captology.stanford.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/11/Beh... (found through https://behaviordesign.stanford.edu/fogg-behavior-model)