Getting Stung: Honey Bees, Hornets, Paper Wasps, and Yellow Jackets
From the standpoint of stinging capability, the most important distinction between honey bees and hornets, paper wasps, and yellow jackets is that only honey bees have a barbed stinger that remains in the victim. The other stinging insects have smooth barbs that the insect can withdraw and sting with multiple times.
Hornets, paper wasps, and yellow jackets are all meat eaters: they kill other insects for their protein. Honey bees on the other hand, use pollen as their protein source. In other words, they are vegetarians. For all of these insects, stinging behavior is "defensive." In the case of honey bees, some races as well as individual colonies may be more aggressive in the defense of their hives - and trove of honey - than others, but that's what it is, defense.
Note: Honey bees are not native to North America, but were brought by European colonists. The original bee colonies they imported were German bees, but these bees were considered too aggressive. Later, Italian bees, considered more docile, were brought over. These are the familiar yellow honey bees.
A honey bee that happens to end up in your house just wants to get out. Unfortunately, what often happens is someone yells "There's a bee! Get it!" Someone swats at it, gets stung, and that's where phobias can start.
The Real Stinger
Anytime someone gets stung, they typically say they were "stung by a bee" even though it may well have been another insect. For information on how to identify other stinging, flying, insects, see Identifying Hornets, Wasps and Yellow Jackets and Bumblebees and Honey Bees.
Sustainable Living Quote:
Economists are behavioural psychologists, but they think more is better; they want to make everyone richer. They should pause. More's not necessarily better
- David Hemenway