Yeah, this has happened in my experience too. Changing my own actions as a way to affect change is easier than changing someone else's actions. This is both in

Yeah, this has happened in my experience too. Changing my own actions as a way to affect change is easier than changing someone else's actions. This is both in the social domain and actually physically affecting someone (e.g. sparring). In chess or Go or any other strategy games, this would be "initiative". I've also found something similar to that opposite-emotion reaction with other people. I think it has a lot to do with the parts of our brain responsible for mirroring other people and empathy. For example, changing an internal state often reflects in the non-verbal cues that affects someone else subconsciously. There are old (50+ years old) leadership manuals that points this and other things out.