B.F Skinner – the man blamed for the quadrants – was right about many things. Skinner didn’t care about the brain of an animal – that’s a black box that we don’t need to concern ourselves with. Why? Because all behaviour can be controlled and/or modified through operant conditioning.
Skinner proved that operant conditioning can actually make free will an illusion. And we see this all the time in dog training discussion. How so?
Typically dogs are trained through “listen to me or I’ll punish you in some way”. The punishment can be withholding of treats or reward, could be a prong collar pop or an e-collar hit. The main issue is, the dog isn’t really getting a real choice. And you will hear trainers say that “I am giving it a choice”. But when the only choice the dog has is “to do it or else” – now you’re removing free will.