Fear of bees
Fear of bees | |
---|---|
Other names | Apiphobia Melissophobia |
Honeybees are relatively docile, particularly when pacified with smoke or other methods, although even experienced beekeepers will typically wear protective gear to avoid painful stings | |
Specialty | Psychiatry |
Treatment | Exposure |
The fear of bees, also known as apiophobia, apiphobia, or melissophobia, is a
Description
The fear of bees is called apiophobia, apiphobia, or melissophobia. This comes from apis, the Latin word for bee, and phobos, the Greek word for fear. Bee phobias are diagnosed as animal-type specific phobia by the DSM-5.[1]
Fear of bees is related to
Causes
The fear of being
Fear of bees brings a greater evolutionary advantage than fears of other insects because they are venomous, and can cause life-threatening harm through anaphylaxis in some individuals.[10] As phobias are diagnoses of irrational fear, individuals who have life-threatening allergic reactions to bee stings are not considered apiphobic when experiencing a fear of bees related to their own safety.[7] Fear of bees is less common than fear of spiders, though humans are more likely to come into contact with bees relative to other widely-feared arthropods. Bees are more easy to find accidentally when they congregate as swarms, and individual bees are attracted to food that humans may be carrying.[10] Swarms especially can trigger panic, although bees do not typically sting while swarming.[11]
Africanized bees are more dangerous than other bees and are more widely feared. Relative to other bees, they are more easily provoked and will chase humans over long distances.[12] Popular culture sensationalizes and exaggerates this danger, making fear more common.[7] Fear of Africanized bees in the United States can play on xenophobia, as they embody the concept of a threat emerging from Africa and traveling through Latin America.[13] Africanized bees are colloquially known as killer bees in North America and abejas bravas (transl. fierce bees) in South America.[14]
People with a fear of bees are less likely to be knowledgeable about bees, and they frequently overestimate the likelihood of a bee becoming aggressive or stinging.[15] People may be less likely to fear bumblebees relative to other bees, as they can be perceived as cuter and they are less likely to sting.[16] Fearing an insect for its sting is learned behavior rather than instinctive,[8][17] and bee phobias most commonly develop in childhood.[1]
Beekeepers are often forced to reconcile a fear of being stung. They may consider it to be a routine part of the job, derive self-confidence from the nature of their work, or consider it a form of affective labor.[18]
Effects
Fear of bees can affect a person's ability to enjoy time spent outdoors.[6] People with a fear of bees may avoid outdoor activities, be distracted watching for bees when outdoors, or mistake other insects for bees.[19] Emotional distress, panic attacks, and urges to flee are common responses to bee sightings for people with bee phobias, and they may attempt to kill bees upon seeing them, making it more likely that they will be stung.[20] Since bees are attracted to flowers, the fear of flowers is most commonly associated with the fear of bees.[21] Being a specific phobia, exposure therapy is an effective treatment for bee phobias.[20]
Negative attitudes toward bees have a debilitating effect on conservation efforts.[4] Fear of bees also results in legal restrictions on beekeeping, especially in urban areas.[22][23]
The fear of bees has been observed in
In society
In
The spread of Africanized bees to the United States caused a moral panic in the country beginning in the late 1970s.[29] News coverage of bees is mixed; while it has raised the issue of declining bee populations and promoted conservation, it also instills fear by describing deaths relating to bee stings.[5]
See also
Notes
- ^ a b c d e Milosevic & McCabe 2015, p. 26.
- ^ a b c Crane 1976, p. 15.
- ^ a b Sumner, Law & Cini 2018, p. 836.
- ^ a b Silva & Minor 2017, p. 20.
- ^ a b Wilson-Rich 2014, p. 206.
- ^ a b Wilson-Rich 2014, p. 207.
- ^ a b c Milosevic & McCabe 2015, p. 27.
- ^ a b Crane 1976, p. 16.
- ^ Lockwood 2013, p. 134.
- ^ a b Gerdes, Uhl & Alpers 2009, p. 67.
- ^ Moore & Kosut 2013, p. 146.
- ^ Wilson-Rich 2014, pp. 206–207.
- ^ Moore & Kosut 2013, p. 161.
- ^ Moore & Kosut 2013, p. 163.
- ^ Milosevic & McCabe 2015, pp. 26–27.
- ^ a b Crane 1976, p. 17.
- ^ Lockwood 2013, p. 35.
- ^ Moore & Kosut 2013, pp. 119–120.
- ^ Milosevic & McCabe 2015, pp. 27–28.
- ^ a b Milosevic & McCabe 2015, p. 28.
- ^ Correia & Mammola 2023, p. 10.
- ^ Wilson-Rich 2014, pp. 122–123.
- ^ Moore & Kosut 2013, p. 5.
- ^ Dror et al. 2020, pp. 355–356.
- ^ Cook et al. 2018, p. 329.
- ^ van Huis 2021, p. 2228.
- ^ Pattinson 2019, p. 101.
- ^ Pattinson 2019, pp. 116–117.
- ^ Moore & Kosut 2013, pp. 161–162.
References
- Cook, R.M.; Parrini, F.; King, L.E.; Witkowski, E.T.F.; Henley, M.D. (2018). "African honeybees as a mitigation method for elephant impact on trees". Biological Conservation. 217: 329–336. .
- Correia, Ricardo A.; Mammola, Stefano (2023). "The Searchscape of Fear: A Global Analysis of Internet Search Trends for Biophobias". People and Nature. ISSN 2575-8314.
- ISSN 0005-772X.
- Dror, Shany; Harich, Franziska; Duangphakdee, Orawan; Savini, Tommaso; Pogány, Ákos; Roberts, John; Geheran, Jessica; Treydte, Anna C. (2020). "Are Asian elephants afraid of honeybees? Experimental studies in northern Thailand". Mammalian Biology. 100 (4): 355–363. ISSN 1616-5047.
- Gerdes, Antje B.M.; Uhl, Gabriele; Alpers, Georg W. (2009). "Spiders are Special: Fear and Disgust Evoked by Pictures of Arthropods". .
- ISBN 978-0-19-993019-7.
- Milosevic, Irena; McCabe, Randi E. (2015). Phobias: The Psychology of Irrational Fear. ISBN 978-1-61069-575-6.
- ISBN 978-0-8147-6306-3.
- Pattinson, David (2019). "Bees in China: A Brief Cultural History". In ISBN 978-1-108-55157-1.
- Silva, Alexandra; Minor, Emily S. (2017). "Adolescents' Experience and Knowledge of, and Attitudes toward, Bees: Implications and Recommendations for Conservation". Anthrozoös. 30 (1): 19–32. ISSN 0892-7936.
- ISSN 0307-6946.
- ISSN 1742-7592.
- Wilson-Rich, Noah (2014). The Bee: A Natural History. ISBN 9781400852192.