He is one of the main proponents of cognitive sociology in France and is known for his work on collective beliefs as well as for his involvement in jihadist radicalization prevention programs with the French government.

In 2006, he defended an HDR (post-doc dissertation) on the import of the cognitive bias concept in sociology, which was subsequently published as L’Empire de l’erreur.

For instance, he published an article comparing counterarguments to Darwinian evolutionary theory in the US and France (Revue Française de Sociologie, 3, 2007) and how they differ depending on the cultural context.

His work covers a wide range of topics, including the mechanisms at play in entering a cult, how children stop believing in Father Christmas, risk perception and political and religious extremist thoughts.

He summarized these processes in La démocratie des crédules, where he demonstrates how hoaxes and fake news are able to rapidly spread and form the basis to layered arguments such as conspiracy theories.

In L’inquiétant principe de précaution he exposed the reasons he and his co-author E. Géhin call ‘precautionism’, i.e. the unconditional (and often ideologically driven) application of the precautionary principle.

In La planète des hommes - Réenchanter le risque, he analyzes the theories underpinning governmental and administrative action and argues that basing entire policies on ideas such as Hans Jonas’ responsibility principle can lead to unintended and sometimes potentially dangerous consequences.