Geoff knows he is supposed to wait until after dinner to eat a cookie, but when his mother goes upstairs he sneaks into the kitchen and grabs one. later that night geoff feels bad and tells his mom what he did. apparently, geoff is developing

I believe the answer is: moral development, conscious

In moral development, conscious refers to the ability to distinguish which actions are considered as 'right' and which actions are considered as 'wrong'. People who already reach this stage of development tend to felt a sense of guilt every time they did the actions that considered as morally wrong.