diff --git a/src/standard/utils.html b/src/standard/utils.html
index 59ff1fff9b..4311f32357 100644
--- a/src/standard/utils.html
+++ b/src/standard/utils.html
@@ -106,7 +106,7 @@
 
     /**
      * Returns a list of nodes that are the effective childNodes. The effective
-     * childNodes list is the same as the element's childNodes except that 
+     * childNodes list is the same as the element's childNodes except that
      * any `<content>` elements are replaced with the list of nodes distributed
      * to the `<content>`, the result of its `getDistributedNodes` method.
      *
@@ -119,8 +119,8 @@
 
     /**
      * Returns a list of elements that are the effective children. The effective
-     * children list is the same as the element's children except that 
-     * any `<content>` elements are replaced with the list of elements 
+     * children list is the same as the element's children except that
+     * any `<content>` elements are replaced with the list of elements
      * distributed to the `<content>`.
      *
      * @method getEffectiveChildren
@@ -134,7 +134,7 @@
     },
 
     /**
-     * Returns a string of text content that is the concatenation of the 
+     * Returns a string of text content that is the concatenation of the
      * text content's of the element's effective childNodes (the elements
      * returned by <a href="#getEffectiveChildNodes>getEffectiveChildNodes</a>.
      *
@@ -373,7 +373,7 @@
      * @return {Boolean} true if node is in this element's light DOM tree.
      */
     isLightDescendant: function(node) {
-      return this.contains(node) &&
+      return this !== node && this.contains(node) &&
           Polymer.dom(this).getOwnerRoot() === Polymer.dom(node).getOwnerRoot();
     },
 
diff --git a/test/unit/utils-content.html b/test/unit/utils-content.html
index ace55386ce..61b17552a6 100644
--- a/test/unit/utils-content.html
+++ b/test/unit/utils-content.html
@@ -59,7 +59,7 @@
       var elt2 = document.querySelector('#elt2');
       var elt3 = document.querySelector('#elt3');
       var elt4 = document.querySelector('#elt4');
-      
+
       test('getContentChildNodes (empty)', function() {
         var nodes = elt1.getContentChildNodes();
         assert.equal(nodes.length, 1, 'should have 1 text node');
@@ -123,7 +123,7 @@
         var text = elt7.$.content.getEffectiveTextContent();
         assert.equal(text.replace(/\s/g, ''), 'abcde');
       });
-      
+
     });
 
     suite('isLight/Local descendant utils', function() {
@@ -132,6 +132,14 @@
       var elt5 = document.querySelector('#elt5');
       var elt6 = document.querySelector('#elt6');
 
+      test('isLightDescendant is false for self', function() {
+        assert.isFalse(elt1.isLightDescendant(elt1));
+      });
+
+      test('isLocalDescendant is false for self', function() {
+        assert.isFalse(elt1.isLocalDescendant(elt1));
+      });
+
       test('isLightDescendant is true for light children', function() {
         var span = elt4.querySelector('span');
         var customElement = elt4.querySelector('x-content');