diff --git a/src/attributes/val.js b/src/attributes/val.js
index ca5fa0838..6d6b8ea7c 100644
--- a/src/attributes/val.js
+++ b/src/attributes/val.js
@@ -117,7 +117,7 @@ jQuery.extend({
 
 				while ( i-- ) {
 					option = options[ i ];
-					if ( (option.selected = jQuery.inArray( jQuery(option).val(), values ) >= 0) ) {
+					if ( (option.selected = jQuery.inArray( option.value, values ) >= 0) ) {
 						optionSet = true;
 					}
 				}