Episode 31 (Season 3, Episode 4) - Jessica Bodily

Jess received her Bachelors in Psychology with Honors in 2007 from the University of Kentucky. She subsequently earned her MS (2010) and Ph.D. (2013) in Experimental Psychology, both completed in Thomas Zentall’s laboratory at the University of Kentucky. She was a Lecturer of Psychology at the University of Florida from 2013-2017, and at Georgia Southern University from 2017-2020. Currently, she is an Associate Professor in the department of psychology at Auburn University at Montgomery. 

Her research is in the Cognitive-Behavioral area and centers mainly on decision-making processes and suboptimal choice behavior across species. Her work explores the various conditions under which certain choices occur as well as how aspects, such as personality traits and past reinforcement history, play a role in choice behavior. One of her favorite things about being a faculty member is having the opportunity to introduce students to research and to help them navigate their career path. In addition to mentoring undergraduate researchers in her laboratory, she teaches classes in behavior analysis, cognition, and psychological careers. In 2025, she won the Auburn University at Montgomery’s Distinguished Teaching Associate Professor Award. Jess was a program committee chair for the American Psychological Association Division 6 meeting in 2026 and is currently the President of the Comparative Cognition Society. Away from work, Jess is a mother of three who loves coffee, nature, and watching college basketball and football (War Eagle and Go Cats!).

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