Where does conformity collide?

In stratigraphy a conformity is a boundary between rock layers that were laid down one on top of another without any interruption, so the record of time across that surface runs continuously; its opposite, an unconformity, marks a gap where deposition stopped or the surface was worn away. The distinction originates with James Hutton's 1788 Theory of the Earth, which recognised surfaces (later named unconformities) where tilted older beds are overlain by younger ones, evidence of a long break in the rock record. Here the referent is a physical contact between sedimentary beds, read from the rock itself, and it has nothing to do with a person agreeing with a group or a product meeting a specification.[1]

Unit

A single stratigraphic contact between conformable beds

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Identified in the field or in core by tracing bedding and grain size and noting whether an erosion surface or missing interval of time is present

In quality control, conformance is the degree to which a manufactured item or process output falls within its stated specification, so a part that lands inside the tolerance limits conforms and one outside them does not. Walter Shewhart's 1931 Economic Control of Quality of Manufactured Product established the statistical basis for judging whether production stays within specification limits, and Philip Crosby's 1979 Quality Is Free later defined quality itself as conformance to requirements. The referent is a measured match between output and a written standard, tracked as conformance or defect rates, and it is unrelated to a boundary between rock beds or a person bending to a crowd.[2][3]

Unit

One item or batch, scored as conforming or nonconforming to specification

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Assessed by inspection against tolerance limits and summarised as defect rates or control-chart limits

In social psychology, conformity is the change a person makes in judgment or behaviour to match a group, whether because the group appears to be a better source of information or because of the pull to be accepted. The experimental study begins with Muzafer Sherif's 1935 work on how people converge on a shared estimate when judging an ambiguous light, and with Solomon Asch's 1956 studies in which participants often agreed with a unanimous majority even about a plainly wrong line length. The referent is a shift in an individual's response under real or imagined group pressure, counted by how often people go along, and it is distinct from a contact between rock beds or a product meeting its specification.[4][5]

Unit

One person's shift in response toward the group

Recovery means

Not applicable

Measured by

Quantified in experiments by how often a participant matches an incorrect or planted majority