The mentality of losers

[Nichlemn]

As you know, despite most 2+2ers at least claiming to be winners, a considerable majority of players at any limit are going to be long term losers. What it is that motivates losing players at a level to play there?

For micro/low stakes this question seems fairly easy to answer. These people may treat online poker as an unbeatable gamble like slot machines, depositing money, getting the thrill of occasionally raking big pots, and redepositing when they lose. Since they are just "gambling", they feel no need to try to improve their game in any way, since that's all poker is to them. Some others may see the money lost to poker as just like a "subscription fee" for a fun game. They're hardly seen on 2+2 because they have no real interest in improving their game.

What I'm less sure about is the higher stakes losers. The person depositing $50 every week can't really fit under that category. They have to be a different type.
Some of them will be wealthy whales, treating poker as a gamble or entertainment, only their much higher income allows for consequently higher stakes. But if this were the case for most of them, there would be many absolutely awful plays made at high stakes, which doesn't seem to be the case.

The ones I wonder about are the reasonably solid players who can easily win at a lower limit, yet still play at a game where they're a loser. I imagine that these players amassed their roll at a lower limit, or had a big tournament score, and now play above their skill level. These are "transferrers" who help consolidate the winnings of many low limit losers into a single high limit winner.
I can understand it for the tournament winner, who gets very lucky and overconfidence and a suddenly large roll causes them to lose a lot of money. But how would it work within cash games? What mentality does someone have that allows them to be a winning poker player at lower limits but blow off all their winnings frequently taking shots at a higher limit?

Maybe tournaments are necessary to make high stakes cash games profitable? It's the only thing I can conclude. I just can't see how that many players can like money enough to win it consistently, but not enough to avoid losing it at higher limits. Perhaps only through big scores from for instance, the Sunday Hundred Grand and the Sunday Million on Stars can enough money be regularly concentrated into a loser.