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This chapter traces the development of the elaboration likelihood model (ELM) across three decades of research. The ELM began as a theory about the processes responsible for attitude change and the strength of the attitudes that result from those processes. It has now been applied to a wide variety of judgmental change phenomena. By focusing on the core mechanisms of change, the ELM has served to organize the many different theories, outcomes, and variables relevant to persuasion and influence. This review describes four fundamental ideas from the ELM and six phases of ELM research. A key strength of the ELM is that it provides a useful framework from which to understand the moderation and mediation of changes in attitudes as well as other judgmental outcomes from reducing prejudice to the impact of classic heuristics that influence choice and decision making.