Fear of mice and rats is one of the most common specific phobias. It is sometimes referred to as musophobia (from Greekμῦς "mouse") or murophobia (a coinage from the taxonomic adjective "murine" for the family Muridae that encompasses mice and rats, and also Latinmure "mouse/rat"), or as suriphobia, from Frenchsouris, "mouse".
The phobia, as an unreasonable and disproportionate fear, is distinct from reasonable concern about rats and mice contaminating food supplies, which may potentially be universal to all times, places, and cultures where stored grain attracts rodents, which then consume or contaminate the food supply.
In many cases a phobic fear of mice is a socially induced conditioned response, combined with (and originated in) the startle response (a response to an unexpected stimulus) common in many animals, including humans, rather than a real disorder. At the same time, as is common with specific phobias, an occasional fright may give rise to abnormal anxiety that requires treatment.
Treatmentedit
Fear of mice may be treated by any standard treatment for specific phobias. The standard treatment of animal phobia is systematic desensitization, and this can be done in the consulting room, or in hypnosis. Some clinicians use a combination of both approaches to desensitization during treatment. It can be helpful to encourage patients to experience some positive associations with mice: the feared stimulus is paired with the positive rather than being continuously reinforced by the negative.[1]
Elephants and miceedit
There is a common folklore belief that elephants are afraid of mice. The earliest reference to this claim is probably by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia, book VIII. As translated by Philemon Holland (1601), "Of all other living creatures, they [elephants] cannot abide a mouse or a rat." Numerous zoos and zoologists have shown that elephants can be conditioned not to react. MythBusters performed an experiment in which, indeed, multiple elephants did attempt to avoid a mouse, showing there may be some basis for this belief. Regardless, elephantine murophobia remains the basis of various jokes and metaphors. The classical board game dou shou qi has the rat kill an elephant, and multiple editions of the rule book mentions that the rat would crawl into the elephant's ears to gnaw into its brain. This is considered to be a folk tale.[2]
An exaggerated, phobic fear of mice and rats has traditionally been depicted as a stereotypical trait of women, with numerous books, cartoons, television shows, and films portraying women screaming and jumping onto chairs or tables at the sight of a mouse. Despite this portrayal, murophobia has always been experienced by individuals of both sexes. However, women are twice as likely as men to suffer from specific phobias, such as musophobia.[4]
In the TV series Seinfeld, Frank Costanza has a profound fear of mice. In the episode "The Raincoats, Part 2", Frank threatens to move houses after George suggests there could be mice in their house. Kramer also appears to be afraid of mice in that same episode.
The titular character in the Doraemon series is scared of mice, due to having had his robotic ears bitten off by mice due to a mistaken order by Sewashi, as decipted in 1995 short film 2112: The Birth of Doraemon.
Madame Medusa, the main antagonist of Disney's The Rescuers (1977), an adaptation of Margery Sharp's children's novels, suffers from extreme musophobia, becoming hysterical upon encountering the film's protagonists, a pair of friendly mice, while aiming to protect herself by jumping onto a chair and firing her shotgun. Ironically, her far more threatening pet crocodiles hardly make her uneasy.
Tin Top from Roary the Racing Car exhibited musophobia in the episode "Tin Top Gets Scared".
Injun Joe is afraid of mice and rats in the 1995 anime movie, Huck and Tom's Mississippi Adventure.
In the video game Donkey Kong Country 3: Dixie Kong's Double Trouble! the rideable/transformable elephant Ellie is afraid of rats and must throw a barrel at them. Additionally, there is a level called Stampede Sprint that centralizes on her fear of rats; at the beginning of the level you transform into Ellie only to be spooked by a few rats which causes Ellie to continuously barrage her way through the level.
Bloodsport, as portrayed in the film The Suicide Squad, is afraid of rats, which is used many times for comedic effect.
Lofty, a large blue anthropomorphicmobile crane from the Bob the Builder franchise, is known for being afraid of mice. This fear is great enough that he raced all the way back to the yard while in a faraway field. However, subsequent productions remove this fear entirely.
^Kraft D & Kraft T (2010). Use of in vivo and in vitro desensitization in the treatment of mouse phobia: review and case study. Contemporary Hypnosis, 27 (3): 184-194.
^Bell, R.C. (1983), The Boardgame Book, p. 119. Exeter Books.
^. Archived from the original on 11 December 2008. Retrieved 26 May 2008.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)
fear, mice, rats, this, article, needs, additional, citations, verification, please, help, improve, this, article, adding, citations, reliable, sources, unsourced, material, challenged, removed, find, sources, news, newspapers, books, scholar, jstor, march, 20. This article needs additional citations for verification Please help improve this article by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed Find sources Fear of mice and rats news newspapers books scholar JSTOR March 2016 Learn how and when to remove this message Fear of mice and rats is one of the most common specific phobias It is sometimes referred to as musophobia from Greek mῦs mouse or murophobia a coinage from the taxonomic adjective murine for the family Muridae that encompasses mice and rats and also Latin mure mouse rat or as suriphobia from French souris mouse A house mouse Mus musculus The phobia as an unreasonable and disproportionate fear is distinct from reasonable concern about rats and mice contaminating food supplies which may potentially be universal to all times places and cultures where stored grain attracts rodents which then consume or contaminate the food supply Contents 1 Cause 2 Treatment 2 1 Elephants and mice 2 2 Patron saint 3 In popular culture 4 See also 5 ReferencesCause editThis section does not cite any sources Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources Unsourced material may be challenged and removed April 2024 Learn how and when to remove this message In many cases a phobic fear of mice is a socially induced conditioned response combined with and originated in the startle response a response to an unexpected stimulus common in many animals including humans rather than a real disorder At the same time as is common with specific phobias an occasional fright may give rise to abnormal anxiety that requires treatment Treatment editFear of mice may be treated by any standard treatment for specific phobias The standard treatment of animal phobia is systematic desensitization and this can be done in the consulting room or in hypnosis Some clinicians use a combination of both approaches to desensitization during treatment It can be helpful to encourage patients to experience some positive associations with mice the feared stimulus is paired with the positive rather than being continuously reinforced by the negative 1 Elephants and mice edit There is a common folklore belief that elephants are afraid of mice The earliest reference to this claim is probably by Pliny the Elder in his Naturalis Historia book VIII As translated by Philemon Holland 1601 Of all other living creatures they elephants cannot abide a mouse or a rat Numerous zoos and zoologists have shown that elephants can be conditioned not to react MythBusters performed an experiment in which indeed multiple elephants did attempt to avoid a mouse showing there may be some basis for this belief Regardless elephantine murophobia remains the basis of various jokes and metaphors The classical board game dou shou qi has the rat kill an elephant and multiple editions of the rule book mentions that the rat would crawl into the elephant s ears to gnaw into its brain This is considered to be a folk tale 2 Patron saint edit Gertrude of Nivelles is the patron saint of murophobia and is also invoked against rats and mice in general 3 In popular culture edit nbsp Woman displaying musophobia An exaggerated phobic fear of mice and rats has traditionally been depicted as a stereotypical trait of women with numerous books cartoons television shows and films portraying women screaming and jumping onto chairs or tables at the sight of a mouse Despite this portrayal murophobia has always been experienced by individuals of both sexes However women are twice as likely as men to suffer from specific phobias such as musophobia 4 In George Orwell s novel Nineteen Eighty Four the protagonist Winston Smith has an intense fear of rats Strapping a cage of hungry rats to his face is a technique used to get him to implicate his lover in thoughtcrimes In the TV series Seinfeld Frank Costanza has a profound fear of mice In the episode The Raincoats Part 2 Frank threatens to move houses after George suggests there could be mice in their house Kramer also appears to be afraid of mice in that same episode In Indiana Jones and the Last Crusade Doctor Jones Sr is described as being scared to death of rats The titular character in the Doraemon series is scared of mice due to having had his robotic ears bitten off by mice due to a mistaken order by Sewashi as decipted in 1995 short film 2112 The Birth of Doraemon The incarnation of Princess Zelda from The Legend of Zelda Spirit Tracks will freeze in fear if she is met by rats Madame Medusa the main antagonist of Disney s The Rescuers 1977 an adaptation of Margery Sharp s children s novels suffers from extreme musophobia becoming hysterical upon encountering the film s protagonists a pair of friendly mice while aiming to protect herself by jumping onto a chair and firing her shotgun Ironically her far more threatening pet crocodiles hardly make her uneasy Tin Top from Roary the Racing Car exhibited musophobia in the episode Tin Top Gets Scared Injun Joe is afraid of mice and rats in the 1995 anime movie Huck and Tom s Mississippi Adventure In the video game Donkey Kong Country 3 Dixie Kong s Double Trouble the rideable transformable elephant Ellie is afraid of rats and must throw a barrel at them Additionally there is a level called Stampede Sprint that centralizes on her fear of rats at the beginning of the level you transform into Ellie only to be spooked by a few rats which causes Ellie to continuously barrage her way through the level Bloodsport as portrayed in the film The Suicide Squad is afraid of rats which is used many times for comedic effect Lofty a large blue anthropomorphic mobile crane from the Bob the Builder franchise is known for being afraid of mice This fear is great enough that he raced all the way back to the yard while in a faraway field However subsequent productions remove this fear entirely In Tom and Jerry Cowboy Up Bentley is afraid of mice including Jerry Mouse and Tuffy See also editList of phobiasReferences edit Kraft D amp Kraft T 2010 Use of in vivo and in vitro desensitization in the treatment of mouse phobia review and case study Contemporary Hypnosis 27 3 184 194 Bell R C 1983 The Boardgame Book p 119 Exeter Books Gertrude of Nivelles Archived from the original on 11 December 2008 Retrieved 26 May 2008 a href Template Cite web html title Template Cite web cite web a CS1 maint bot original URL status unknown link Cameron Alasdair 2004 Crash Course Psychiatry Elsevier Ltd ISBN 0 7234 3340 2 Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title Fear of mice and rats amp oldid 1223681165, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
