Expectation (philosophy)

Richard Lazarus asserts that people become accustomed to positive or negative life experiences which lead to favorable or unfavorable expectations of their present and near-future circumstances.

Lazarus notes the widely accepted philosophical principle that "happiness depends on the background psychological status of the person...and cannot be well predicted without reference to one's expectations.

Lazarus argues that "the most sensible explanation of this apparent paradox is that people...develop favorable or unfavorable expectations" that guide such assessments.

Researchers who elicit (or measure) the expectations of individuals can input these beliefs into the model in place of standard probabilities.

The strategy of eliciting individual expectations is now incorporated into many international surveys, including the Health and Retirement Study in the United States.

Expectations elicitation is used in many domains, including survival and educational outcomes, but may be most prominent in financial realms.