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Show 283 THE UNIVERSITY OF UTAH Researchers have shown that autobiographies and narratives can help us explore individual differences as well as one's biases and self-concepts (McAdams, 1996). Pasupathi and Wainryb (2010) argued that through the narration of negative experiences, the individual engages in the challenge of understanding his and others' roles as people with moral agency (ability to make moral judgments and act according to one's morality) as well as the complexity of situ-ations, people, and decisions. Furthermore, attachment styles directly relate to an individual's Internal Working Model (IWM) which incorporates one's perception of self and others and one's expectations and beliefs (Dykas & Cassidy, 2011). This study examines the relationship between attachment styles and various ways individuals narrate events of their transgres-sions. 85 participants provided six transgression stories and answers to an attachment style questionnaire. We hypothesized that those who score higher on avoidant and anxious aspects of the attachment style scale are more likely to use scripts that are evident of their negatively biased perception of themselves and/or others and to be less flexible in using varying scripts for varying events. We have coded the narratives of 38 participants for the presence of spe-cific types of transgression scripts (general event sequences). We chose a cut-off correlation score of .20 to predict possible significant results. Anxious individuals seem more likely to attribute their actions to a lack of control (r = .22) and not to internal reasons (r=-.27) and are less flexible in their explanations (r=-.21). They are also less likely to provide unclear stories (r = -.37, p-value = .023). These results point to their low sense of agency over their actions and a belief that internal states control their actions and not their selves. They may be more likely to review negative experiences and thus provide more comprehensible narratives. Avoidant individuals are more likely to attribute their transgressions to external reasons (r=.29) and are more flexible in their explanations (r=.28). Thus, although avoidant individuals also have a low sense of agency, they attribute their actions to external rather than internal reasons. One explanation for avoidant individuals' more frequent use of various scripts could be their disconnected sense of self. INDIVIDUAL DIFFERENCES IN THE PRESENCE OF SPECIFIC SCRIPTS IN NARRATIVES OF INTERPERSONAL HARM Kiana Taheri (Monisha Pasupathi) Department of Psychology University of Utah honors college Kiana Taheri Monisha Pasupathi |