When 13-year-old ted comes out of the locker room in his gym shorts, he hears some girls laughing nearby and assumes they are laughing at the way his legs look. according to elkind, ted's thinking reflects the operation of?

The correct answer is the imaginary audience. 

According to the psychologist Elkind, imaginary audience refers to a phenomenon wherein adolescents feel like they are under constant scrutiny and are being judged and observed by others.  Adolescents believe that they are under constant scrutiny because of the changes and growth their body and physiology is going through during adolescence. The imaginary audience phase is a common phenomenon that adolescents experience.