Abstract: It is an important issue in social dilemmas how to predict people to make cooperative decision. This review summarizes recent researches on social dilemmas, including the dilemma’s characters, sources, types and the theoretical basics, describes the factors influencing on cooperation, and introduces the interaction between sanctioning systems and cooperation. The reasons of the paradoxical findings are also considered. In addition, we discuss the problems in these researches. We would pay attention to the construction of the theory, difference of cultures and cognitive processes in the future researches

Key words: social dilemmas, game, decision-making, cooperation, sanctions