Yeah I don't have numbers or anything but I feel like, before they shifted, the same things used to happen, where hard hit balls were outs (at-him balls, or hang-wiffums if you will) and soft hit balls (duck-snorts) were hits. The fact that Hawk even named them shows that it happened often enough. I agree about the psychology aspect...
What I think needs to happen is pitchers should pitch more to the shift and hitters should learn how to hit more against the shift. Although I'm sure that's a lot harder to do than it sounds...and I think pitchers are probably pitching more to the shift than hitters trying to hit against it.