diff --git a/lib/Cake/Network/CakeResponse.php b/lib/Cake/Network/CakeResponse.php
index 9607d160e52..e7e3eb5c78d 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Network/CakeResponse.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Network/CakeResponse.php
@@ -444,10 +444,20 @@ protected function _setContentType() {
 		if (in_array($this->_status, array(304, 204))) {
 			return;
 		}
-		if (strpos($this->_contentType, 'text/') === 0) {
+		$whitelist = array(
+			'application/javascript', 'application/json', 'application/xml', 'application/rss+xml'
+		);
+
+		$charset = false;
+		if (
+			$this->_charset &&
+			(strpos($this->_contentType, 'text/') === 0 || in_array($this->_contentType, $whitelist))
+		) {
+			$charset = true;
+		}
+
+		if ($charset) {
 			$this->header('Content-Type', "{$this->_contentType}; charset={$this->_charset}");
-		} elseif ($this->_contentType === 'application/json') {
-			$this->header('Content-Type', "{$this->_contentType}; charset=UTF-8");
 		} else {
 			$this->header('Content-Type', "{$this->_contentType}");
 		}
diff --git a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Network/CakeResponseTest.php b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Network/CakeResponseTest.php
index b373d158f76..c8e06397ccf 100644
--- a/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Network/CakeResponseTest.php
+++ b/lib/Cake/Test/Case/Network/CakeResponseTest.php
@@ -196,12 +196,27 @@ public function testSend() {
 	}
 
 /**
- * Tests the send method and changing the content type
+ * Data provider for content type tests.
  *
+ * @return array
+ */
+	public static function charsetTypeProvider() {
+		return array(
+			array('mp3', 'audio/mpeg'),
+			array('js', 'application/javascript; charset=UTF-8'),
+			array('json', 'application/json; charset=UTF-8'),
+			array('xml', 'application/xml; charset=UTF-8'),
+			array('txt', 'text/plain; charset=UTF-8'),
+		);
+	}
+
+/**
+ * Tests the send method and changing the content type
+ * @dataProvider charsetTypeProvider
  */
-	public function testSendChangingContentType() {
+	public function testSendChangingContentType($original, $expected) {
 		$response = $this->getMock('CakeResponse', array('_sendHeader', '_sendContent', '_setCookies'));
-		$response->type('mp3');
+		$response->type($original);
 		$response->body('the response body');
 		$response->expects($this->once())->method('_sendContent')->with('the response body');
 		$response->expects($this->at(0))->method('_setCookies');
@@ -210,26 +225,28 @@ public function testSendChangingContentType() {
 		$response->expects($this->at(2))
 			->method('_sendHeader')->with('Content-Length', 17);
 		$response->expects($this->at(3))
-			->method('_sendHeader')->with('Content-Type', 'audio/mpeg');
+			->method('_sendHeader')->with('Content-Type', $expected);
 		$response->send();
 	}
 
 /**
- * Tests the send method and changing the content type to JSON
+ * Tests the send method and changing the content type to JS without adding the charset
  *
  */
-	public function testSendChangingContentTypeJSON() {
+	public function testSendChangingContentTypeWithoutCharset() {
 		$response = $this->getMock('CakeResponse', array('_sendHeader', '_sendContent', '_setCookies'));
-		$response->type('json');
-		$response->body('the response body');
-		$response->expects($this->once())->method('_sendContent')->with('the response body');
+		$response->type('js');
+		$response->charset('');
+
+		$response->body('var $foo = "bar";');
+		$response->expects($this->once())->method('_sendContent')->with('var $foo = "bar";');
 		$response->expects($this->at(0))->method('_setCookies');
 		$response->expects($this->at(1))
 			->method('_sendHeader')->with('HTTP/1.1 200 OK');
 		$response->expects($this->at(2))
 			->method('_sendHeader')->with('Content-Length', 17);
 		$response->expects($this->at(3))
-			->method('_sendHeader')->with('Content-Type', 'application/json; charset=UTF-8');
+			->method('_sendHeader')->with('Content-Type', 'application/javascript');
 		$response->send();
 	}