In behavioral psychology, negative transfer is the interference of the previous knowledge with new learning, where one set of events could hurt performance on related tasks.
This is an example of negative transfer because they have taken what they have learned from one set of rules and have applied it to a similar experience but in the wrong way.
By having the ability to compare oneself to another individuals performance adjustments can be better internalized and negative effects can be calculated and seen before they are even made.
According to research done by Magda Osman, without external normative standards, such as making a comparison with another’s learning experiences, self-perceptions of the knowledge and control ability of self-conditions lead to negative self-assessments.
[4] Moreover, along with poor self-efficacy judgments, individuals also undervalued the relevancy of previously gained knowledge in assisting them in the transfer task.
The reason for this is because individuals overcompensate in their error detection and correction, which leads them to ignore rather than transfer relevant prior information.
As a consequence this has negative effects on their performance because they have failed to utilize prior relevant knowledge.