Communications technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truthThe fi

Communications technologies are far from equal when it es to conveying the truth．The first study to pare honesty across a range of munication media has found that people are twice as likely to tell lies in phone conversations as they are in emails．The fact that emails are automatically recorded—and can e back to puzzle you---appears to be the key to the finding．
Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca, New York, asked 30 students to keep a munications diary for a week．In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and confessed to how many lies they told．Hancock then worked out the number of lies per conversation for each medium．He found that lies made up 14 per cent of emails, 21 percent of instant messages, 27 per cent of face-to-face interactions and an astonishing 37 percent of phone calls．
His results to be presented at the conference on human-puter interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists．Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because deception makes people unfortable, the indirect contact of emailing would make it easier to lie．Others expected people to lie more in face-to-face exchanges because we are most practiced at that form of munication．
But Hancock says it is also crucial whether a conversation is being recorded and could be reread, and whether it occurs in real time．People appear to be afraid to lie when they know the munication could later be used to hold them to account, he says．This is why fewer lies appear in email than on the phone．
People are also more likely to lie in real time---in an instant message or phone call, say---than if they have time to think of a response, says Hancock．He found many lies are spontaneous（脱口而出） responses to an unexpected demand, such as: “Do you like my dress?”
Hancock hopes his research will help panies work out the best ways for their employees to municate．For instance, the phone might be the best medium for sales where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth．But, given his result, work assessment where honesty is a priority, might be best done using email．
【小题1】Hancock’s study focuses on     ．A．the consequences of lying in various munications mediaB．the success of munications technologies in conveying ideasC．people are less likely to lie in instant messagesD．people’s honesty levels across a range of munications media【小题2】Hancock’s research finding surprised those who believed that     ．A．people are less likely to lie instant messagesB．people are unlikely to lie in face-to-face interactionsC．people are most likely to lie in email municationD．people are twice as likely to lie in phone conversations【小题3】According to the passage, why are people more likely to tell the truth through certain media of munication?A．They are afraid of leaving behind traces of their liesB．They believe that honesty is the best policyC．They tend to be relaxed wh en using those mediaD．They are most practised at those forms of munication【小题4】It can be inferred from the passage that     ．A．honesty should be encouraged in interpersonal municationsB．suitable media should be chosen for different munication purposesC．more employers will use emails to municate with their employeesD．email is now the dominant medium of munication within a panyD