"Flattening of affect" refers to a constricted or completely blunted emotional response to a situation that would otherwise illicit a strong emotional response. Psychologists typically use this term in reference to the schizophrenic mind's tendency to display inappropriate emotional reactions to various stimuli, and it is not to be confused with the low emotional energy of a depressed mind.

In Philip K. Dick's Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep?, the flattening of affect refers to the inability of the androids to empathize with others, which serves as an important diagnostic tool to distinguish them from humans. When flattening of affect has nothing to do with a mental illness, it marks its bearer as something fundamentally other than human. Pris uses the explanation of schizophrenia to pass off as human and avoid being "retired."

The term "flattening of affect" is a term of art used by therapists to describe what happens to one's face if one is showing little or no emotion.  This is the one instance in which the word "affect" is used as a noun instead of as a verb, so people not acquainted with the term are likely to find this confusing. The opposite of flat affect would be animated affect, meaning that a person's face is showing his or her emotions.

Often flatness of affect is a symptom of mental illness, for example, depression, and this is often used to help in the diagnosis of various mental illnesses.  You may or may not have observed someone with a flat affect, but now that you know what this means, you might find it interesting to observe how different we are on the continuum of animation in our faces.