Non-binary People are Harder to Persuade: Preliminary Evidence and Insights

We investigated the relationship between the effect of persuasion techniques on the individual and their gender, conceptualized as a three-value variable where participants could identify as male, female, or non-binary. While previous research has primarily examined the role of binary genders in persuasion, this study is the first to compare susceptibility to persuasion across binary and non-binary individuals.A total of 1,995 participants evaluated the persuasive impact of 30 statements representing 10 persuasion techniques (e.g., framing, social proof, flattery) across three contexts. Additionally, participants' personality traits and dysfunctional attitudes were assessed using the TIPI and DAS scales.Our findings revealed that non-binary participants were significantly less susceptible to persuasion, consistently assigning lower scores than both male and female participants across all techniques and contexts. The difference between non-binary individuals and binary genders was an order of magnitude greater than that between male and female participants, even after controlling for age, education, TIPI personality traits, and DAS dysfunctional attitudes.Mediation analysis indicated that 34.1\% of the effect of gender on persuasion was explained by personality traits and dysfunctional attitudes, with Conscientiousness, Love, and Entitlement emerging as significant mediators. Several personality traits also acted as significant moderators of the effect of gender on persuasion scores.However, a substantial portion of the gender effect remained unexplained by these factors. To address this residual difference in persuasion scores, we propose two potential explanations: a stronger propensity among non-binary individuals to challenge and defy societal norms, and the influence of counter publics and echo chambers in amplifying resistance to mainstream narratives and persuasive messaging.