P.F. Skinner lived a prolific, wealthy and productive life, but according to him he had no hand in any of his choices.
His maternal grandmother was his only outlet from his parents' prison, encouraging him to quench his curiosity and giving him part of her attic to conduct animal experiments there. Skinner never thought he was a curious person by nature, but his curiosity was born at the behest of the world around him, and the environment in which he found himself growing up prompted him to search and explore.