Final answer:
At the pre-conventional stage, decisions are based on avoiding punishment and seeking rewards, rather than internal moral principles.
Step-by-step explanation:
Individuals at the pre-conventional stage of Kohlberg's model of cognitive moral development make decisions based on immediate gratification and avoiding punishment. At this level, moral reasoning is mainly focused on self-interest. For example, a child may choose to share their toy with a sibling to avoid being punished by a parent, rather than from an understanding of fairness or empathy.
Therefore, decisions are based on external consequences rather than an internalized sense of right and wrong. It's not until later stages, such as the conventional and post-conventional stages, that individuals consider societal norms or abstract principles, such as justice and human rights, in their moral reasoning.