Final answer:
Adults maintain high performance as they age by focusing on their strengths, utilizing the selective optimization with compensation strategy proposed by Baltes. This involves selecting meaningful goals, optimizing resources to achieve them, and compensating for any losses in other areas, thus balancing cognitive and physical declines through targeted activities.
Step-by-step explanation:
As adults get older, they maintain high levels of performance by focusing on their strengths. This concept is part of the selective optimization with compensation theory developed by Baltes and Baltes (1990), emphasizing that successful aging involves the balancing act of selection, optimization, and compensation. With age, individuals select personal goals that matter most to them, they optimize their resources to achieve these goals, and apply compensation strategies to offset any losses in other areas. This process helps adults maintain performance levels despite age-related declines in certain cognitive or physical abilities.
In the context of cognitive abilities, crystallized intelligence, which includes accumulated knowledge and experiences, often remains stable or even improves with age. Adults can combat the decline of fluid intelligence, which includes processing speed, reasoning, and memory, by engaging in mental and physical activities. These activities have been associated with reduced cognitive decline and lower incidence of cognitive impairments.