negative transfer

American  

noun

Psychology.

1. the obstruction of or interference with new learning because of previous learning, as when a U.S. tourist in England learns to drive on the left side of the road.

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Etymology

Origin of negative transfer

First recorded in 1920–25

Example Sentences

Suggestibility in his sense is nothing more than an inclination to transference, bounded so narrowly that there is no room for any negative transfer.

From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Freud, Sigmund

Without transference of this sort, or without a negative transfer, he would not even listen to the physician and to his arguments.

From A General Introduction to Psychoanalysis by Freud, Sigmund