Many u. s. troops present at my lai later reported that they were frightened and confused about whether people in the villages were really enemy soldiers. others reported that they didn't know whether the rifle-fire they heard was from enemy guns or from the guns of fellow troops. still, frightened and bewildered, many of them began setting fire to huts and shooting old men, women, and children. this tragic example illustrates that informational influence is most likely to occur when

Situations are interpreted as a crisis.

Explanation:

Informational influence refers to the information or arguments we receive by a group that changes our attitudes, beliefs, or behavior. This usually happens because we believe that the other members have accurate information and therefore we follow their lead.

In this example, the troops were frightened and confused about whether people in the village were enemies or not. Some of them reported they didn't know if the rifle sounds came from enemy guns or from their own troops.

So, basically, none of them were sure about what was going on but still they began setting fire to huts and shooting people (who weren't enemies).

None of them had accurate information about what was going on and technically they didn't have anyone to follow, but still they believed that the rest of the troops knew what they were doing and, since it was a life-death situation, the phenomenon of informational influence occured since the situation they were in was seen as a crisis.