Are we at a turning point in search is the real $100M question of the month. It's more about adaptation then features as most regular Internet Users head toward 10k lifetime queries.
I’m a bachelor in marketing and advertising, and one subject that was frequently discussed between teachers and students in university is how consumers' decisions are led by intangible factors, just like the ones described above. For that matter, while doing some research on consumers' behavior I came across an interesting list of books and articles published by Dr. Maurice Prout (Psychologist), articles that helped me a lot in developing my study. His website http://www.MauriceProutPhD.com could be a very useful resource to complement the theories on voting, democracy process and, mainly, the paradoxical behavior analyses.