And now, for something completely different:

Fears and phobias exist related to bees, spiders and other small arthropods; however, there are few studies to date which analyse differing views about various arthropods in relation to their potential dangers and ecological and economical benefits, especially the honey bee. Knowledge of these issues could help to improve potential conflicts between beekeepers and their anxious neighbours.

We assessed attitudes towards various arthropods—wasps, hornets, bees, woodlouse (slater, sowbug) and ladybirds—based on earlier questionnaires concerning spider phobia in 223 randomly selected participants, and related them to personality factors assessed by various standardized questionnaires. Furthermore, we determined the perceived mortality risk arising from the potential threat of various arthropods in relation to various other causes of death, and compared the data to the exact figures supplied by the German Federal Office for Statistics.

Discussion

To the best of our knowledge, this is one of the first analyses to investigate the views of people about various arthropods. It showed that stinging hymenoptera hornets, wasps and bees are considered to be the most dangerous arthropods and that hornets and spiders produce the highest levels of anxiety and revulsion.

... we showed that the dangers associated with arthropods are clearly overestimated in contrast to the many dangers of daily life, which are underestimated. With this background in mind it is understandable that the risks of smoking, driving a motorcycle and household accidents are underestimated because they are voluntarily agreed upon, individuals believe themselves to be in control of the risk and there is no immediacy of effect. The risks of stinging and biting insects are overestimated because people do not usually expose themselves to them, they are a common dread ...

K. Münstedt and A. K. Mühlhans
Fears, Phobias and Disgust Related to Bees and other Arthropods
Advanced Studies in Medical Sciences, Vol. 1, 2013, no. 3, 125 - 142
http://m-hikari.com/asms/asms2013/asms1-4-2013/muenstedtASMS1-4-2013.pdf

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