One of the most exciting classes I took in college was Psych 101, in which I was introduced to the ideas of B.F. Skinner. In a nutshell, Skinner believed that individuals do not create their own lives through free choices, but are created by their culture and its system of punishments and rewards.
For the first time in my life, I saw the obvious truth that had I been reared by different parents or in a different culture, I would have become a different person. Even something I thought of as precious as my religion was more or less trained into me. I wasn’t as free as I imagined.