Whether to engage with the environment or not is critical to self-regulation and individual differences figure prominently in this decisional realm. The present studies (total N = 695) pursue the premise that important clues to these dynamics can be found by asking individuals whether they prefer the spatial concept of something (e.g., the self or the world) being “closed” or “open”, given that open objects interact with their environments more readily and lend themselves to resource acquisition. Individual differences in open-closed preferences were reliable and informative concerning individual differences in motivation and personality. In particular, greater preferences for openness were linked to higher levels of extraversion (Study 1), approach motivation (Studies 1 and 2), and positive affect (Studies 2 and 3). In addition, such preferences were linked to vigorous goal pursuit and achievement in a daily diary protocol (Study 3). Simple preferences among spatial concepts can therefore provide key insights into personality and self-regulation.

是否与环境互动对自我调节至关重要，个体差异在这个决策领域中占有重要地位。本研究（共N = 695）追求这样一个前提，即可以通过询问个人是否喜欢“封闭”或“开放”的事物（例如，自我或世界）的空间概念来找到这些动态的重要线索，因为开放对象与他们的环境更容易获得资源。开放-封闭偏好的个体差异对于动机和个性的个体差异是可靠且信息丰富的。特别是，对开放性的更大偏好与更高水平的外向性（研究 1）、接近动机（研究 1 和 2）和积极影响（研究 2 和 3）有关。此外，这些偏好与每日日记协议中的积极目标追求和成就有关（研究 3）。