Details of conversational behavior can often not be interpreted until the social interaction, including the rights and obligations of the participants, their intent, the topic, etc., has been defined. This paper presents a model of conversation in which the conversational image a person presents in a given conversational situation is a function of a variety of social, psychological, and physical variables. Although this entails that individuals assume and recognize a variety of social roles, the task is lessened when it is realized that one may learn to shift social roles systematically along a small number of social scales. Three conversations are analyzed in terms of the shifting within and between conversational scales. The analyses indicate frequent complex interaction among various scales. Evidence suggests tremendous differences between intimate and highly monitored conversations. The progression from more formal to less formal conversations involves a decreasing focus on linear sequences and local turns and an increased focus on the overall gestalt of the conversation. Quantitative analyses of conversational characteristics reveal little about conversational interaction and patterns of dominance unless the conversation is interpreted in terms of the social frame in which it occurs and the conversational images the participants assume. (JK)