diff --git a/Lib/test/support.py b/Lib/test/support.py
index 28f7e27..73c4228 100644
--- a/Lib/test/support.py
+++ b/Lib/test/support.py
@@ -534,14 +534,19 @@
 
     Optional argument:
      - if 'quiet' is True, it does not fail if a filter catches nothing
-        (default False)
+        (default True without argument,
+         default False if some filters are defined)
 
     Without argument, it defaults to:
-        check_warnings(("", Warning), quiet=False)
+        check_warnings(("", Warning), quiet=True)
     """
+    quiet = kwargs.get('quiet')
     if not filters:
         filters = (("", Warning),)
-    return _filterwarnings(filters, kwargs.get('quiet'))
+        # Preserve backward compatibility
+        if quiet is None:
+            quiet = True
+    return _filterwarnings(filters, quiet)
 
 
 class CleanImport(object):
diff --git a/Lib/test/test_warnings.py b/Lib/test/test_warnings.py
index d5876a7..dda704e 100644
--- a/Lib/test/test_warnings.py
+++ b/Lib/test/test_warnings.py
@@ -644,18 +644,33 @@
     def test_check_warnings(self):
         # Explicit tests for the test.support convenience wrapper
         wmod = self.module
-        if wmod is sys.modules['warnings']:
-            with support.check_warnings() as w:
-                self.assertEqual(w.warnings, [])
-                wmod.simplefilter("always")
+        if wmod is not sys.modules['warnings']:
+            return
+        with support.check_warnings(quiet=False) as w:
+            self.assertEqual(w.warnings, [])
+            wmod.simplefilter("always")
+            wmod.warn("foo")
+            self.assertEqual(str(w.message), "foo")
+            wmod.warn("bar")
+            self.assertEqual(str(w.message), "bar")
+            self.assertEqual(str(w.warnings[0].message), "foo")
+            self.assertEqual(str(w.warnings[1].message), "bar")
+            w.reset()
+            self.assertEqual(w.warnings, [])
+
+        with support.check_warnings():
+            # defaults to quiet=True without argument
+            pass
+        with support.check_warnings(('foo', UserWarning)):
+            wmod.warn("foo")
+
+        with self.assertRaises(AssertionError):
+            with support.check_warnings(('', RuntimeWarning)):
+                # defaults to quiet=False with argument
+                pass
+        with self.assertRaises(AssertionError):
+            with support.check_warnings(('foo', RuntimeWarning)):
                 wmod.warn("foo")
-                self.assertEqual(str(w.message), "foo")
-                wmod.warn("bar")
-                self.assertEqual(str(w.message), "bar")
-                self.assertEqual(str(w.warnings[0].message), "foo")
-                self.assertEqual(str(w.warnings[1].message), "bar")
-                w.reset()
-                self.assertEqual(w.warnings, [])
 
 class CCatchWarningTests(CatchWarningTests):
     module = c_warnings