ABSTRACT
According to the life-satisfaction view, happiness is a state of satisfaction that implies nothing about the value of a person's life independent of her own perceptions. A person's happiness is proportional to how positively she views her life: the more favorable her impression, the happier she will be. Other people suffer from bad luck. Consider a tennis player, moments away from winning her first championship, who suffers an injury that forces her to forfeit the match. She tries to compete again, but her injury affects her ability to play the game competitively. She never gets close to winning another tournament because her injury has essentially destroyed her career. As long as she holds on to the dream of being a professional tennis player, she will be unhappy. A person's happiness, however, is not static. It is affected by not only external events but also internal changes in an individual's preferences.
