Wong's Essentials of Pediatric Nursing Practice Test

In Kohlberg's theory, moral reasoning starts with how actions affect the individual. In the earliest stage, people judge an action as good or bad mainly by its consequences for the actor—whether it leads to punishment or a reward for themselves. This focus on personal outcomes is why the correct criterion is the consequences for the actor. As development proceeds, reasoning moves to following rules for social approval and to applying abstract, universal principles, but those later stages aren’t defined by the immediate consequences for the person performing the action.