[373] Chlordiazepoxide (Librium) THE EFFECTS OF A MINOR TRANQUILIZER ON STRATEGIC CHOICE BEHAVIOR IN THE PRISONER’S DILEMMA

The effects of two dosages of a widely used tranquilizer on strategic choice behavior in the Prisoner’s Dilemma are reported relative to a placebo control group and a no-capsule control group. Present results are compared with those from an earlier study of drug effects on gaming by Hurst et al. (1969) in an attempt to begin developing a broader idea as to the effects of different varieties of psychopharma-cologicals on strategic interchanges. Sociopharmacology is discussed as a social scientific specialization centered upon studying the effects of mind-affecting drugs on the person as a social actor and the courses followed by social processes. Minor tranquilizers, also frequently referred to as anti-anxiety drugs, are prescribed to relieve anxiety, tension, apprehensiveness, nervousness, and agitation without inducing drowsiness, impairing alertness and intellectual processes, or retarding reaction time and physical activity. Reliable and meaningful statistics on the extent of their use among the noninstitu-tionalized U.S. adult population are difficult to obtain, but it is clear that their legal use is very sizable. Tranquilizers, according to four surveys taken by the January 1, 1968, American Druggist, are out-prescribed only by internal anti-infectives such as the sulfa drugs and the penicillins; they were used by 14 % of the general U.S. adult population between the springs of 1966 and 1967 according to two independent surveys based on national samples (one by the Opinion Research Corporation and the other by th