PH
Expectations don't only affect how people evaluate partners.
They can influence how relationship events are interpreted.
Someone expecting rejection may interpret an ambiguous response differently from someone who feels secure.
Likewise, expectations about how relationships “should” work can influence whether ordinary difficulties seem manageable or alarming.
This doesn't mean people simply imagine relationship problems into existence.
It means two people can experience the same event differently because they're comparing it with different expectations.
Sometimes disappointment begins with the gap between the relationship you have and the one you expected.
© Journal of Personality and Social Psychology