Jessamy Comer Headshot

Jessamy Comer

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology
College of Liberal Arts

585-475-7429
Office Hours
By appointment
Office Location

Jessamy Comer

Senior Lecturer

Department of Psychology
College of Liberal Arts

Education

BA, Baylor University; MA, Ph.D., University of Rochester

Bio

Dr. Comer joined the psychology department of RIT in fall 2012. She received her BA in psychology from Baylor University, and she received her MA and Ph.D. in developmental psychology from the University of Rochester. She is a senior lecturer and teaches a variety of courses in the department, such as Introduction to Psychology, Psychological Disorders, Developmental Psychology, Learning and Behavior, Junior Seminar in Psychology, Senior Capstone Proposal, Adolescent Development, Social and Emotional Development, and Graduate Developmental Psychology. Her areas of research interest include adolescent development, autonomy development, and parent-child relationships. In 2023, she received the Outstanding Teaching Award for Non-Tenure Track faculty. 

585-475-7429

Select Scholarship

Villalobos, M. S., Smetana, J. G., & Comer, J. (2015). Associations among solicitation, relationship quality, and adolescents’ disclosure and secrecy with mothers and best friends. Journal of Adolescence, 43, 193-205. 

Nucci, L., Smetana, J., Araki, N., Nakaue, M., & Comer, J. (2014). Japanese adolescents’ disclosure to parents and well-being: The role of family decision-making and domain of activity. Child Development, 85, 901-907.

Smetana, J. G., Rote, W. M., Jambon, M., Tasopoulos-Chan, M., Villalobos, M., & Comer, J. (2012). Developmental changes and individual differences in young children’s moral judgments. Child Development, 83, 683-696. 

Rowatt, W. C., Powers, C., Targhetta, V., Comer, J., Kennedy, S., & LaBouff, J. (2006). Development and initial validation of an implicit measure of humility relative to arrogance. Journal of Positive Psychology, 1, 198-211.

Currently Teaching

PSYC-101
3 Credits
Introduction to the field of psychology. Provides a survey of basic concepts, theories, and research methods. Topics include: thinking critically with psychological science; neuroscience and behavior; sensation and perception; learning; memory; thinking, language, and intelligence; motivation and emotion; personality; psychological disorders and therapy; and social psychology.
PSYC-221
3 Credits
This course will serve as an introduction to the study of psychopathology and mental illness. The course examines the major categories of mental disorder not only from the descriptive point of view, but also in terms of the major theoretical explanations of the causes of disorder. The major treatment modalities also are covered.
PSYC-235
3 Credits
This course covers topics in learning such as non-associative learning, classical conditioning, instrumental conditioning, stimulus control of behavior, reinforcement, generalization and discrimination, and observational learning. Topics on learning and behavior in non-human animals may also be covered.
PSYC-300
3 Credits
This course focuses on current issues and subfields in the field of psychology that are not distinctly incorporated in the established Psychology course offerings. This course concentrates on student discussion and interaction related to required readings. Examples of possible topics are forensic psychology, school psychology, neuropsychology, pseudoscience, etc. Part of the Psychology Minor and Immersion. Students may repeat the course but may not repeat the topic.
PSYC-301
1 Credits
This professional development course is intended for students in the psychology major to prepare for their careers. Topics include identifying career interests and values, learning how to effectively search for co-ops and jobs, preparing a resume and CV, identifying appropriate graduate programs, preparing graduate school applications, interview skills, and professional communication. Students will use career-planning resources such as the Psychology Career Center on campus and the Psychology Career Center community site on myCourses. This course is required for students majoring in Psychology.
PSYC-462
3 Credits
This course takes an in-depth look at the processes of perception and cognition as they develop over the lifespan. Drawing on basic research and theory, we will use a developmental perspective to study changes in perception and cognition. The specific course content will vary depending on the expertise of the instructor, but might include topics like sensory awareness, perceptual learning, object representation, causality, language, theory of mind, memory, or problem solving. This course is part of the Developmental Track for psychology majors.
PSYC-501
3 Credits
This course is intended for students in the psychology major to develop experimental research expertise and put into practice some of what is learned in Research Methods I and II. Students will explore topics of interest for further research in psychology. They will develop one research idea that could either form the basis for a senior project in psychology or is a valid test of a research idea. Students will be supervised by the course instructor as they develop a research question, conduct a literature review, write the introduction, and examine questions about control, validity and reliability. This course will culminate in a research proposal. Students going on to Senior Project in Psychology can use this as a proposal course and must find their faculty adviser for senior project before they finish this course. Students who are not planning for Senior Project will practice writing a proposal and the related skills required to critically examine an advanced topic in Psychology.
PSYC-510
3 Credits
This course is intended for students in the psychology major to demonstrate experimental research expertise, while being guided by faculty advisors. The topic to be studied is up to the student, who must find a faculty advisor before signing up for the course. Students will be supervised by the advisor as they conduct their literature review, develop the research question or hypothesis, develop the study methodology and materials, construct all necessary IRB materials, run subjects, and analyze the results of their study. This course will culminate in an APA style paper and poster presentation reporting the results of the research. Because Senior Project is the culmination of a student’s scientific research learning experience in the psychology major, it is expected that the project will be somewhat novel, will extend the theoretical understanding of their previous work (or of the previous work of another researcher), and go well beyond any similar projects that they might have done in any of their previous courses.
PSYC-713
3 Credits
This course is designed to enhance students' knowledge and skills with regard to infant, child, and adolescent development. We will examine a variety of topics that relate to the physical, cognitive, and social-emotional development of children and adolescents in the context of classic and current theory. We will also explore issues such as attachment, resiliency, and policy issues that pertain to positive child and adolescent development. Students will gain an enhanced knowledge of the sequence of child development and the processes that underlie it by studying child development from a chronological approach. Theories that discuss the various domains of development will be examined through each age period. This course will emphasize the interdependence of all domains of development and contribute to an appreciation of the interrelatedness of theory, research, and applications.