题目内容
Nowadays people use different ways to communicate with each other. And does one always tell the truth when he or she talks with the other on the phone? Or does one sometimes tell a lie when writing an email or giving an instant message? Recent research has found that communication technologies are far from equal when it comes to conveying the truth. The first study, made by Jeff Hancock of Cornell University in Ithaca，New York, to compare honesty across a range of communication 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 come back to trouble you—appears to be the key to the finding.
Jeff Hancock made an investigation by asking 30 students to keep a communication diary for a week. In it they noted the number of conversations or email exchanges they had lasting more than 10 minutes, and 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 per cent of instant messages, 27 per cent of facetoface interactions and an astonishing 37 per cent of phone calls.
His results, to be presented at the conference on human computer interaction in Vienna, Austria, in April, have surprised psychologists. Some expected emailers to be the biggest liars, reasoning that because the unreal condition makes people uncomfortable, the detachment of emailing would make it easier to lie. Others expected people to lie more in facetoface exchanges because people are more practiced at that form of communication.
But Hancock says it is also very important and effective 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 that they will be responsible for what they have said in the conversation, he says. This is why fewer lies appear in emails 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 sudden or immediate responses to demands that they don’t expect, such as “Do you like my dress？”
Hancock hopes his research will help business companies work out the best ways for their employees to communicate.For instance, the phone might be the best medium for selling their products where employees are encouraged to stretch the truth. But when giving results, work assessment, where honesty is regarded as more important than others, it might be best by using emails.
| Jeff Hancock’s study on lying in different ways of communication | |
| The 71.__________from the statistics of the investigation | People tell 72.________lies when the communicating ways change from 73.________to instant messages to facetoface interactions to phone calls. |
| The reasons why people lie/don’t lie | ●People won’t lie when their conversations will be 74.________and can be reread，or when they know they should be 75.________for what they have said. ●People lie in real time mostly because they have to answer 76.________questions without hesitation. |
| The 77.________that business companies can have from the study | ●Using telephones for 78.____________because their employees can stretch the truth. ●Using emails for work assessment because their employees must tell what they’ve done 79.________. |
| The inference from the study | Suitable media should be chosen for different 80.________purposes. |
71．conclusion 72.more 73.emails
74．recorded 75.responsible 76.unexpected 77.benefits 78.sales 79.honestly 80.communication/communicating
