Dehumanising Language as a Tool of Ingroup Cohesion – Case of Wartime Dehumanisation in Russian and Ukrainian Telegram

Intergroup dehumanisation is a pressing concern for contemporary society, known to hinder empathy [1], undermine prosocial behaviour [19], and contribute to between-group aggression [18]. In wartime contexts, dehumanisation can escalate conflict by fostering support for war [8] and enabling violence and extreme outgroup-targeted policies [11, 12], and genocide [6, 10]. Social media narratives, in particular, both reflect and shape intergroup dynamics, making them a powerful data source for examining dehumanising language.