House MD
Factors to consider: Possible PTSD or some other form of dissociative disorder due to childhood abuse
Ni: House uses primarily intuition to figure out what’s wrong with people. He can pull paradoxical information together to reach out-of-the-box conclusions that surprise other people, but are usually right. House is a believer in universal truths (such as, “everybody lies”) and comes up with systems to discover and apply them to situations (NiTe). If something isn’t important to House, he doesn’t do it (or does it reluctantly). He only really helps out at the hospital because he’s bored. House uses his team to bounce ideas off of them more than he does anything else. He uses patterns to figure people out –often not even needing to see the patient to diagnose them. House likes to talk in metaphors.
Te: House likes to be in charge. He hates being told what to do and often ignores people’s suggestions if he thinks their suggestions are unimportant. He deals in facts, logic and empirical evidence (though he doesn’t always need to see the evidence to diagnose). He speaks bluntly, sharply and doesn’t always pay attention to other people’s personal feelings. He doesn’t always think carefully before he talks, and ends up offending people. House is action oriented. He needs to multitask in order to settle his thoughts (whether that involves watching TV or playing with a ball). House wants immediate solutions and would rather take the quickest, most efficient course to finding a diagnosis than sit and theorize for longer than he has to.
Fi: House doesn’t care about standard protocol and doesn’t follow orders when he doesn’t see a good reason for them. He doesn’t feel guilty about breaking privacy rights if it can save someone. He frequently crosses conventional ethical boundaries because he defines his own moral code rather than relying on anyone else’s. Though he often seems heartless, he is extremely principled (save the life vs follow protocol/respect privacy rights). When emotionally compromised, House would rather seek to understand his emotions (and others) than he would receive comfort.
Se: House likes to write everything down on a white board to keep his thoughts organized (visual learning). He likes to move around when he’s thinking, and often walks back and forth through the hospital while working through his thoughts. House often disconnects from the physical world and occasionally seeks thrills. House does a lot of things on the spur of the moment, diagnosing a problem that may or may not be genuine just so he can test so see if it’s actually there. His goal is not to be careful, but to get fast results. When he’s not doing something he’s bored.
I see House typed quite frequently as an xNTP.
However… he can’t be xNTP because his method for diagnosing uses Ni predictions followed by Te testing of empirical evidence. He literally refuses to believe in anything that can’t be proved empirically. The xNTP claim does make sense to the extent that House often locks himself into his shadow functions (which, for an INTJ, are the ENTP functions).
And yes, the argument that House talks too much to be an INTJ is a valid argument. The only explanation I can give for this is that there are a number of INTJ-fetishizing screenwriters out there (Stephen Moffat among them) who try to write INTJ characters without fully understanding them. As a result, they end up writing a caricature, or a stereotype rather than a true INTJ.
The Book Addict's Guide to MBTI: 
Gregory House is the most relatable person I have ever seen. Among any fictional characters and real-life people. I can find so many similarities between my own personality and his. I took the MBTI test, and I am an INTJ. So I absolutely believe that House has to be an INTJ.
House does talk a lot, but he also said he doesn’t do “casual conversations”. He talks for the sake of being witty. I do that too.
LikeLike
About the “talk to much” argument. I am an INTJ myself, and when I’m talking about a subject that a really like, and I feel people interested, I can do it for days! Really! That happens because INTJ anger to have people that listen to their advices, and also like to control the situation. This ussualy happens when House gives only part of the solution, in order to keep HIS audience’s attention (the other characters), when finally he shows the solution like magic. Perfection!!
LikeLike
I am an INTJ and I talk a lot when it’s something i am interested in.
LikeLiked by 1 person
[…] Based on this quiz my personality type is INTJ, The Architect. Famous INTJs you may know include Star Trek’s Mr. Spock and Seven of Nine, and Dr. House. […]
LikeLike
Dr. House is definitely, an INTJ. the Idea of an introvert not talking alot is a misunderstanding. My college professor himself claims to be an introvert and talks all through out class for 2 hrs strait. he isn’t very good at small talk and neither am I. When it comes to talking about something an introvert loves or to prove a point, we can talk for quite a long time about the subject matter. I myself am an INTJ and have been doing quite a bit of research of the topic over the past couple days just figuring out some of my friends personalities, with 100% accuracy as well. Sarcasm and contradictions are another trait of INTJ’s. Even though Dr. House says everybody lies, he lied in that episode, and many other episodes after.
LikeLiked by 1 person
House: Everybody lies.
Kid: Wait. If everybody lies, then that means you’re lying right now.
House: I didn’t say everybody lies all the time, Aristotle.
LikeLike
House may be a Neurotic ENTP/INTJ Shadow function case. That kind of thing is real. I believe Nietzsche had it sometimes. I have personal experience with this as well.
LikeLike
I still believe that house is an ENTP because ENTPs have no respect of other people personal space(my ENTP freind is like that)..he pokes and tests the limits of other people and as INTJ i just cannot relate to that thing.. I am very reserved and i would not scream people’s personal matter in public.. please correct me if i’m wrong.. i desperately want an end decision as to what personality type he is more bent to..
LikeLike
INTJ with shadowy ENTP makes a lot of sense, especially when you consider that according to Socionics a person is not only good with the Ego-Block functions (Ni/Te for INTJ) but also with Id-Block functions (Ne/Ti for INTJ). The difference between the 2 blocks is that a type has a clear preference for the Ego-Block while being dismissive of the Id-Block’s functions (strength & preference vs. just strength).
Ni & Te do seem like his usual mode of operation.
LikeLike
Great article! I’m a huge fan of House MD, going through my third round of watching all eight seasons at this time.
Based on my experiences in my own life, I have to disagree with your last point, that House probably talks too much to be an INTJ. The MBTI shows that I’m highly introverted, yet I’m very talkative under certain circumstances. If I’m talking to someone that I can relate to intellectually, and we’re talking about something I find fascinating, it’s hard for me to shut up. I can talk to my INFJ brother for hours, and neither one of us gets bored (although everyone else in the room does, ha). House is doing a job he finds fascinating and is surrounded by other people all the time who share his interest in medicine and would naturally have to be very intelligent in order to pursue that field. So naturally he talks all the time.
I suppose that the fact that it’s a TV drama means that dialogue is hugely important in keeping the story moving, so he probably does say some things out loud that a Dr. House in real life might just think through to himself.
LikeLike
Thank you! I am such a talkative INTJ you voiced my thoughts almost exactly
LikeLike
well hello,
In the holidays I watched House again and tried to type him too. In a search mania that I had, I also gave birth to a tab (no correlation to my watching addiction), linking to your website. So now that those two parameters have met, here are some thoughts.
1. You type a lot of N(i)/(e)´s, and I guess that is logical, since you sense your world that way.
2. (not a Fan of it, but) Inductive thinking always has a little catch but I try it this way:
House 4th function has to be F, he barely shows or has feelings, that is his signature. He needs people around him as a team to cope for this (you can see him “fail”, if he is on his own, because of this).
And it makes sense to but F on the inferior throne, so there is a T in the first place. Cut information down to what is needed, stuff is interesting if it does not fit in a system that he knows, give him that facts (the real one).
so Ti -Fe or Te – Fi.
Up next 2nd and 3rd functions.
I tend to see Ni – Se or Se – Ni too in him.
There is very little evidence to support a Si – Ne (Ne – Si) trail.
So here are my options: ENTJ (Te-Ni-Se-Fi) or ISTP (Ti-Se-Ni-Fe).
We know that House liked running a lot in his life (before the pain), drives a motorcycle (yeah, prejudices ;) ), gets in action if he is needed (regardless if there are rules that other people have) and he is pretty good to just walk in a room sense the patient and have a diagnosis without thinking a lot about it (Se).
I never consciously talked with an ENTJ (or with an ENFJ) so I only could guess or read in books about how Ni in 2nd would be. :/
I personally think that he is more an Introvert and a Perceiver locked in the workspace of Judgers (biased me; don´t kill!). P makes way more sense for me; he does not wear his “uniform”, he is a drug addict (prejudgment, I know…), is not afraid to change his mind, if the situations needs it and he needs a team that gives him input so he can figure stuff out. Also (now I am setting low standards here), he is a kind of a mechanic, repairs humans and enjoys that – ISTP (now I feel like I have done justice to prejudices).
BUT(!), still tho; Good website mate, keep up the thinking :)
LikeLike
A few things to keep in mind:
#1 House was abused as a child –that will have a direct affect on the way he deals with feelings as an adult. It also makes it far more likely that he’d lock into his shadow functions as an adult (see my previously stated argument)
#2 Not all people who like to run and drive motorcycles are upper Se users (your reasoning here is a bit fluffy).
However, I am willing to consider ENTJ –possibly because House is almost exactly like a certain ENTJ that I know. The reason I went with INTJ instead, was his tendency to prefer being alone (among other things). His work style often switches between that of a P type (xNTP) and a J type (xNTJ), which I’ve formerly attributed to shadow functions.
LikeLike
2# I already said that it is prejudgment, but it is also common under S user (and personally, I never meet an N motorcyclist). But I can see how this is an “okey” argument; to act like the functions cause a certain behavior, is wrong, we both know that. But you too do it, all over that page, sooooo..?
I can not see the J in his character and I try one more argument. He hates traditions (and with no doubt, that is what I can see in all J´s I currently know; in a way they like some sort of tradition in their life (depending on Fe or Te)),
XNTP – Ne-Si?
I am not a big believer that a person can “switch” to his shadow functions at will, but it would fit your current system quite nicely, that is true.
LikeLike
I never said that House switches to his shadow functions “at will.”
When I type characters, I don’t use I, E, T, F, J, P, N, and S as my guide. I use the Jungian functions: Ni, Ne, Si, Se, Ti, Te, Fi and Fe.
Many J-types hate traditions, and many P-types love them. If you have to correlate any single function to tradition loving, it’s usually Si, and has nothing to do with J or P.
I’m an INTJ. I hate traditions because they seem repetitive and pointless to my Ni. My ESTJ mom loves traditions because they remind her of her childhood and her values. She is an Si user. My ENFP sister loves traditions, though not to the extent that my mom does (her Si is tertiary). My ESFP brother thinks traditions are boring and that we should constantly be doing something active and new (he’s an SeNi user).
Verstehen?
LikeLike
What would you say is Hugh Laurie’s type?
LikeLike
I’d have to do some research on him and maybe rewatch some of the old Frye and Laurie episodes before I could give you an answer on that.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Hello
LikeLike
Yes, hello dear. You have been acknowledged.
LikeLike
I definitely think House is INTP. Believes in universal truths check, takes on new cases not practically but only because they are puzzles to solve check, doesnt take care of himself on a personal material level (his personal life is pretty crappy) check, will bypass rules and authority which often jeopardizes him check, talks out loud and often uses other peoples conversation to springboard new ideas and theories check.
Your case against xNTP doesnt make any sense since NTPs OBSSESS over empiricial evidence as it is essential to our theorizing, and without it it would just be daydreaming with the possibility of it being wrong(OVER MY DEAD BODY). Also, refusal to accept he is more INTP than anything is probably the INTP stereotype, which is that they think but never do. Its not true, we would go to GREAT LENGTHS and action to reach and solve the next puzzle, find the new theory, and we’re quite explorative people. Its our main purpose in life to solve the puzzle. We would NOT go to great lengths to reach some higher goal or improve ourselves(INTJ) as those things dont matter so much to us.
I am certain about my claim since personally I was much influenced by House growing up watching it, during which time I questioned my religion, myself, society, everything by the rules of logic and eventually became the INTP i am today.
LikeLike
Title says INTJ, the functions are ENTJ
LikeLike
Oh thanks for catching that! Fixed it.
I was wandering back and forth between ENTJ and INTJ on House for a while and I guess I never went back and changed it after I decided INTJ.
LikeLike
For me I wavered between ENTP or INTJ for House. Your explanation about the shadow functions make sense, especially if House frequents his “shadow mode”. Perhaps that could also explain his “chattiness” for an INTJ?
LikeLike