618 vI. SELF‑ AND S OCIAL P ROCESSES
of relevant triggers. These may be consistent 
with, or incompatible with, chronically ac -
cessible goals. Active goals are monitored 
through active processing of goal-  relevant 
aspects of the immediate environment and 
the outcomes of goal-  relevant behaviors. 
Monitoring associated with active goals re -
sults in biased attention to and processing 
of information in the environment, favoring 
interpretations of situational affordances 
and characteristics of people present in situ -
ations in goal-  related terms. Monitoring 
also is concerned with evaluating potential 
gains and losses associated with specific ap -
proaches to goal pursuit, reflecting biases de -
scribed in our summary of regulatory focus 
theory in the next section. These core fea -
tures of online, contextualized goal pursuit 
allowed for detailed and process-  oriented 
description of characteristic patterns of self- 
regulation that manifest as personality (e.g., 
Cain, Meehan, Roche, Clarkin, & De Pan -
filis, 2019; Mendoza-  Denton & Goldman- 
Flythe, 2009; Morf & Rhodewalt, 2001).
Specific Traits  
Associated with  Self-Regulation
A basic set of psychological structures and 
processes is assumed to characterize self- 
regulation for most people most of the time. 
Yet how and when these structures are ac -
tivated and how relevant processes are de -
ployed may vary systematically across situ -
ations and between people. In this section 
we review several prominent traits from a 
potentially large number of traits that con -
tribute to that variability. Although these 
traits may account for variability in episodes 
of self-  regulation as a function of situational 
affordances and constraints, we focus on 
their relevance for between-  person differ -
ences in self-  regulation.
Approach–Avoidance
At a fundamental level, self-  regulation is 
influenced by the tendency toward behavior 
that is motivated by approach or avoidance. 
Although the tendency toward one or the 
other source of motivation influences be -
havioral choices relevant for self-  regulation, 
those tendencies are not themselves features of self-  regulation. Rather, they account for 
differences in the strength of influence ex -
erted by stimuli relevant for goal pursuit 
(e.g., temptations). To some degree, whether 
the operating motivation system is approach 
or avoidance depends on the stimulus elic -
iting the behavior and the behavior sup -
ported or discouraged by the immediate 
environment (Corr, 2013). If the stimulus is 
perceived as potentially rewarding, the ap -
proach system is typically activated. If the 
stimulus is perceived as potentially pun -
ishing, the avoidance system is typically 
activated. Individual differences related to 
approach–  avoidance are relevant in two 
ways. First, the degree to which a particular 
stimulus is likely to produce reward or pun -
ishment is not always clear. In such cases, 
individual differences may dictate whether 
the perceiver is motivated to approach or 
avoid the stimulus. Second, people vary in 
the sensitivity of these motivational systems. 
Some people are more likely than most to 
perceive potentially rewarding stimuli and 
approach them, whereas other people are 
more likely than others to perceive stimuli 
as signaling possible punishment and avoid 
them (Carver & White, 1994). As noted in 
the previous section, individual differences 
in sensitivity of the approach and avoidance 
system account for a portion of the variabil -
ity in the Big Five domains surgency/extra -
version and emotional stability/neuroticism, 
respectively. Measures designed specifically 
to capture individual differences in sensitiv -
ity of the behavioral activation and behav -
ioral inhibition systems have shown the rel -
evance of approach–  avoidance differences 
for self-  regulation (Carver & White, 1994). 
The more sensitive the behavioral inhibition 
system,  the more prone the individual is to 
anxiety and avoidance. Of relevance for the 
self- reinforcement phase of self-  regulation, 
individuals high on behavioral inhibition 
are more sensitive to punishment. In con -
trast, the more sensitive the behavioral ap -
proach system,  the more prone the individu -
al is to impulsivity and novelty seeking, and 
the more responsive he or she is to reward. 
The sensitivity of these systems has pro -
found effects on the sources of motivation 
that fuel people’s pursuit of goals, as well 
as their preferences for specific goal-  pursuit 
strategies.