[mjp]

The 3 causes of stupid mistakes are:
1) overestimation of one's abilities
2) making impulsive decisions
3) lapses of attention,
but the cause of all three are the refusal or inability to activate one's higher level conceptual consciousness and to become reality oriented, or the evasion of reality back to a constant state of haze, drift, and fog. In this state one is motivated by emotions, fantasies,immediate interests, urges, and subconscious drives rather than reason.

[Torcert]

And sadly these days many have un-moored themselves from reality and logic. And sadder still many do not realize they have done so and are... as you said..motivated by emotion and other drives.