Abstract
Famous among sociologists and economists who like to use psychology (particularly among behavioral economists), Jon Elster sought throughout his career to challenge the explanatory power of the economic theory of rational choice (ETRC). In order to do this, he used the contributions of increasingly incisive authors. He even explained that one of the key reason for the failure of the ETRC as substructure of explanatory models was a too often overlooked mechanism: people tend to deceive themselves due to more or less unconscious mental needs which operate behind the back of their consciousness. But at the same time, Elster could never assume the causticity of this idea.
Codes JEL: B4, D01, D8.