Do you have a big head… or a big forehead? I do on both accounts, and until now it’s been a point of embarrassment for me – especially as my hairline recedes. My wife jokes about my head being my most dangerous weapon if I have to defend our family. I usually say it’s because I have a big brain and a normal one can’t contain all my thoughts and ideas. Although I do occasionally think about knocking out an intruder with my noggin (it’s the father in me). 
So does the size of your head play a part in your overall intelligence? Well, I found this answer from a reputable outfit called Science Netlinks: “The most we can say about brain size and intelligence is that by and large, all other things being equal, people who have larger brains tend to have slightly higher I.Q.’s than people with smaller brains.” Science Netlinks goes onto say that “Jonathan Swift (the author of Gulliver’s Travels) had a big honkin’ brain, at the top end of all the brains ever measured. Does that mean Swift was the smartest man who ever lived? He was certainly a bright guy, but it’s hard to get behind any statement so extreme.”
I rather like that explanation, as I’ve got the head of an NFL nose tackle on the body of a receiver (and I’m assuming big head = big brain). But as with many things it’s helpful to look for an opposing viewpoint and then compare the strength of each side’s data. I found that researchers from The Queensland Institute for Medical Research tested 4395 teenagers for a link between head size and intelligence and they found no relation. (Shucks!) Read what they found.
So it seems those with big heads can side with the Swift story, and those with small heads can point to the research out of Australia. I say start noticing the head sizes of the smartest people you know and see if you find any correlation for yourself! Let me know what you find out… the first few people that come to my mind all have large heads – although maybe that’s just my perspective!
To see a brain’s various functional areas, check out this diagram: http://www.umich.edu/~cogneuro/jpg/Brodmann.html
Did you know critical thinking was rated the NEW #1 workplace skill? Download our paper: 
I also suffer from a big forehead. My ego likes the findings of this research.
What if you have a small head, but big forehead? Does it all even out to just average IQ?
This week I asked my dentist about veneers because I have small teeth. He explained that the problem isn’t really my teeth, it’s my disproportioned head. No joke. He explained that the distance from your hairline to the top of your nose should be equal to the distance from the top of your nose to your upper lip, which should be the same distance as the top of your lip to your chin (essentially dividing your face into 3 equal parts). When I go see my dentist again, I’ll explain that my large forehead isn’t the problem. My high IQ is the problem!
you can have a biggest brain in the world and not do anything with it….
on a serious not I have a big forehead, but people like einstien, had very average brains, the differrence in them and other people? nothing, they just used it differently. I tend to think all these type studies are superficial, and feed ignorance, and egos.
the only thing that makes people smarter is they think, and use thier brains to thier fullest potential they can.I mean real thinking, not memorizing smart peoples work.
Obviously head size correlates to cognitive ability, even if it’s not IQ exactly. If the human brain could be smaller and just as efficient, then all human brains would be smaller, take less energy, and give women a whole heck of an easier time pushing them backwards through the small vaginal opening.
A piece of information you might find interesting comes from the early 1900′s, when doctors performed frontal lobotomies. Even though the procedure essentially consisted of destroying the frontal lobes, a sizable part of the brain, the result had no appreciable impact on IQ. So, either the frontal lobes were completely useless for cognitive functioning, or IQ is not a comprehensive measure.
I have a below average sized head. As I hope you can see, I am not stupid. However, I have spent a lot of time reading, studying, and in general working to acquire cognitive skills. Anyone at the gym who works his butt off on a schedule is probably going to be stronger than someone who doesn’t. And anyone who studies is going to make more connections and develop more academic ability than someone who doesn’t.
So, the point is that having a larger brain, unless it is a diseased brain, is never a bad characteristic. Christopher Langdon, at least, doesn’t feel embarrassed about his +6 SD noggin’, or his 200+ IQ. But larger brain size might be conferring some cognitive advantage not related to IQ. This might be, for instance, greater capacity for political ability. Or a greater ability to find a sustain a sexual partner.
Being born with a big head is far less important than having good growth as you progress through childhood. During the first year of life, babies’ brains double in size, and by the time they are six, their brain weight has tripled. These are the crucial years for laying down brain cells and neural connections.