Robert Pierce, who is a professor at the University Counseling Center at the University of Rochester in New York and a psychologist in private practice, uses humor frequently with his patients as well as his three children. He believes when fathers gravitate to puns, it can actually bring them closer to their children.
"It can give a different perspective, or a kind of 'we're all in this together' feeling," he told The Wall Street Journal. "At the right moment, it can make a point strongly and gently."
Researchers who work in the field of positive psychology agree that humor can aid in intimacy and in reducing stress. Who knows, maybe that's exactly why dad jokes have become an integral part of the popular lexicon.
But limited research on the subject also suggests that fostering a sense of humor and playfulness while parenting may also help children learn how to cope with the everyday trauma of growing up, Dr. Pierce pointed out.
Though testosterone levels change as men grow older, Dr. Pierce doesn't believe this affects a man's tendency to rib his children with bad puns.
Instead, he said that fathers want to connect in ways that can't be misconstrued as sexual in nature or deemed aggressive. "Dad jokes tend to be calming, not angry, and are simple enough that anyone, even a little kid, can get them," he explained.
When dad jokes get mocked (or mockingly appreciated) online, they’re often characterized as barely clever. Some people even call them anti-humor. And while it's impossible for us to agree on these things, there's one feature that perfectly describes these jokes. Wordplay.
Stanley Dubinsky, an English professor at the University of South Carolina and the father of two sons, is a frequent deployer of dad jokes, mostly of the non-pun variety; he likes to deliberately mispronounce words sometimes, just to see his kids roll their eyes.
“I take a little bit of perverse pleasure in causing them some embarrassment when I speak,” Dubinsky told The Atlantic. “Your kids are embarrassed by you anyway, so the next best thing [to them laughing in earnest at your jokes] is to level with that.”
