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Given: $X \sim N(0,1)$ and $Y \sim N(0,1)$ where $X$ and $Y$ may be correlated.

If we assume that the underlying Normals are jointly Normal, then (a) the exact answer is quite simple, and (b) we can do much better, conditioning the maximum bound on the correlation coefficient. In particular, if $(X,Y)$ are bivariate Normal with correlation $\rho$, then the joint pdf $f(x,y)$ is:

Then, $E\big[Max[X,Y]\big]$ is:

where I am using the Expect function from the mathStatica package for Mathematica to automate the nitty gritties. Plainly, the expected maximum is contingent on $\rho$, as a quick plot illustrates:

As @oferzeitouni noted, the maximum possible value is $\sqrt{\frac{2}{\pi}}$, which is attained when $\rho = -1$.

wolfies
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