The model of rational economic man (homo oeconomicus), being the central concept in economics, is not profoundly presented during basic economics classes. Thus, students can misinterpret the concept: homo oeconomicus is presumed to be rational and utterly selfish, while altruistic behaviour is treated as a deviation. Incorporating pro-social and altruistic motives to the models of rational human behaviour is a relatively new trend in academic economic literature, while undergraduate teaching programs still tend to neglect issues related to ethics, moral reasoning, or social interactions.

This paper presents the tools for discussing the rationality of altruistic behaviour with the undergraduate students of any relevant specialization. Author’s Know Thyself method presented in the paper incorporates the classroom experiment, which utilizes the original Giving According to GARP experimental methodology in order to create storytelling about human nature. The expected learning outcomes when using this methodology include i) introducing the concept of homo oeconomicus; ii) showing the construction of untypical budget constraints for abstract goods; iii) presenting rationality tests based on real students' choices; iv) introducing the ethical-related concepts of effective altruism and pathological altruism in the context of economic rationality.

理性经济学人（homo oeconomicus）的模型是经济学的中心概念，在基本经济学课上并未深入介绍。因此，学生可能会误解这一概念：经济上的同质性被认为是理性的，完全自私的，而利他行为则被视为偏离。在学术经济学文献中，将亲社会和利他动机纳入理性的人类行为模型是一种相对较新的趋势，而本科教学计划仍然倾向于忽略与道德，道德推理或社会互动有关的问题。

本文介绍了与相关专业的本科生讨论利他行为的合理性的工具。本文介绍的作者的“知己知彼”方法结合了课堂实验，该实验利用原始的“按GARP给予”实验方法来创建有关人性的故事。使用这种方法时预期的学习成果包括：i）引入经济人概念；ii）说明抽象商品非典型预算约束的构建；iii）根据实际学生的选择提出合理性测试；iv）在经济理性的背景下，引入与道德有关的有效利他主义和病理性利他主义的概念。