Irwin, F. W. (1944). The realism of expectations. Psychological Review, 51(2), 120-126.

Levels of expectation are considered to be distributed along a continuum with realistic at one extreme and unrealistic at the other. Experimental data were analyzed with reference to the several criteria. Reliability and generality of the level of expectation were shown to be sensitive to the position of the expectations on the realism-unrealism continuum. Failure to control this characteristic of expectations may lead to disagreements in conclusions arrived at in different studies.

 

 

http://dx.doi.org/10.1037/h0061743