Question is why is this so prevalent?

Is is simply because tight players sit and wait for them all night, then can't help but blast off when they finally get them?

I have made so much money off stacked players who are dealt Aces who make a weak enough PF bet that I call and gamble in the hope that I hit big.

It's like they cannot get away from the hand, even when post flop, they are still only holding one pair and continue to blast away, turn and river. It amazes me how often this happens.

This is not about me bragging about how many bad beats I can deliver, I'm interested in the psychology in order to capitalise on it more in the future. I Have a number of idea's why this happens but am genuinely interested in other's thoughts.

I notice this with a few other hands too.

I think people just

a) overvalue the hands
b) just expect to win like near 100%

A few things I've noticed is sometimes fish will spazz off with like JJ-KK when an overcard hits. Like they think they are entilted to win
everytime and will shove KK on the A22 board or something, which is just a bad idea as they fold out worse and reallly should only get
called by an Ace or deuce.

Also with AK people will pound away with that hand sometimes. Like they will tripleBarrel the T92 board with AK, but wouldn't do the same
with AJ. They just feel like they are supposed to win with AK or something.

With AA you get the min 3betters sometimes. They will min 3bet AA even if the hand is super multiway. I will say sometimes this does payoff
as everything in poker has some upside and downside. Sometimes they keep in a weak hand that flops top pair and can't fold. Other times they
keep in a hand that beats there AA and they lose a bunch.

I agree. The person you have highlighted above is absolutely me lol. If the situation calls for it, I'm happy to even flat with AA when up against an ultra aggressive player. I'm happy to gamble and re-evaluate knowing bet sizes on the flop and turn. But, if the aggression continues I'm also happy to let AA go on the right river, it's only one pair after all

To bad players, it is their virtue signaling that they are a good player. "Look, I'm in the pot with aces. Obviously that's good play." Admittedly there is not near as much of this level of play as years ago. But it's still operative.

Yep It's very much operative and something I love to exploit.

"Bad math play, playing that hand". Too bloody right, by the time infinity comes and the Math (theoretically) plays out, I will be long gone, after I've enjoyed spending your chips that is.

On a more serious note, I have begun to suspect that there is also a deeper psychology at play here.

Too many people 'Expect' to win a hand when they are holding AA. There's a slim possibility that there is masochism, guilt and many other factors at play here.

Maybe they are finally set free when there aces are cracked?

Yeah if you don't have much skill, being in there with a group 1 hand is your skill.

because of how rare it is

Do you mean rare as in the amount of times you have personally seen it, or statistically rare?

I have personally seen AA roughly 16,000 times.

Fish wait all night for it. It makes their heart race so naturally they are more inclined to not want to fold it.

Completely agree. Wow, that's a lot of Aces. I'm guessing that you multi-table?